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spirited

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Etymology and origin of the English word spirited

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1508 Fisher, Treatise Penytencyall Psalmes More words from the 16th century
Ultimate origin
Latin spīrō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin spīrō
Latin spīritus
French esprit
Italian spirito
English spirit
English spirited
From the same root
English transpire ← spīrō
Latin aspīrō ← spīrō
Latin cōnspīrō ← spīrō
Latin exspīrō ← spīrō
Latin īnspīrō ← spīrō
Latin respīrō ← spīrō
Latin spīrāculum ← spīrō
Latin spīrāmentum ← spīrō
Latin suspīrō ← spīrō
Latin trānspīrō ← spīrō
Latin spīritālis ← spīritus

Pronunciation

  • /ˈspɪɹɪtɪd/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English spirit + -ed.[2][3][4][5] Etymonline instead takes it as a past-participle adjective from the verb spirit.[6] The noun is from Old French espirit and also comes directly from Latin spīritus (“breath”),[6][7] from spīrō (“to breathe”).[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Having a spirit of a specified kind, chiefly as the second element of a compound: 1508, in Fisher's treatise on the penitential psalms, according to the revised OED.[2] Older dictionaries date the word to the late 16th century: Etymonline to the 1590s, Dictionary.com to 1590–1600.[6][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The first use, in combination, is the one behind high-spirited, low-spirited, mean-spirited and public-spirited.[2][3][4] On its own the word is recorded from 1601, in Jonson, of a person full of life and courage,[2][4] from 1624 of a lively animal, especially a horse,[2] and since 1670 of things, actions or events that show such vigour.[2] This is the only sense Johnson (1755) gives, "lively; vivacious; full of fire", and he quotes Pope: "Dryden's translation of Virgil is noble and spirited".[10] Alongside it ran a material sense: containing or impregnated with spirit, from 1616 and rare after the 17th century.[2][4][3] Of a drink it could mean "alcoholic" (1648), and before 1665 it is recorded for a taste that is "sharp, piquant".[2] Milton's "So talk'd the spirited sly snake" (1667) uses it for "possessed by a spirit", a rare sense that died out.[6][2] A grammatical use for a Greek letter marked with a breathing occurs in 1670.[2]

Timeline

  • 1508 – having a spirit of a specified kind.[2]
  • 1601 – of a person, full of life, courage or vigour, in Jonson.[2][4] Etymonline dates the sense to the 1590s.[6]
  • 1616 – containing spirit or active properties (obsolete by 1906).[2]
  • 1624 – of an animal, especially a horse, lively and mettlesome.[2]
  • 1648 – of a drink, alcoholic.[2]
  • before 1665 – of a taste, sharp or piquant.[2]
  • 1667 – possessed by a spirit, in Milton (obsolete by 1861).[2][6]
  • 1670 – of a thing or action, showing spirit or vigour.[2]
  • 1670 – of a Greek letter, marked with a breathing.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Full of energy, courage or liveliness; animated: The mayor gave a spirited reply to her critics.[4][2][5]
  2. Of an animal, especially a horse: lively and mettlesome: a spirited mare.[2][3]
  3. Having a spirit of a specified kind, as the second element of a compound: public-spirited, mean-spirited.[2][3][4]
  4. Chiefly of a drink: alcoholic.[2]
  5. Of a taste or flavour: strong or piquant.[2]
  6. (obsolete, 1616–1906) Containing or impregnated with spirit or active properties.[2][4][3]
  7. (obsolete, 1667–1861) Possessed by a good or evil spirit.[2][3]

Word family

  • spiritedly
  • spiritedness
  • unspirited
  • high-spirited
  • low-spirited
  • mean-spirited
  • poor-spirited
  • public-spirited

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Spirited.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/spirited. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·