spurious

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin spurius (“illegitimate, false”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} with the ending -ous.^[6][7][8] The Latin adjective comes from a noun of the same spelling meaning an illegitimate child, often used among the Romans as a first name,^[4][9] and the sense "false" is Late Latin according to Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[9] Barnhart and the American Heritage Dictionary take the word as probably Etruscan.^[4][10] Etymonline and Klein name Etruscan spural (“public”), so that the word would first have meant "a public child", one with no father, a view Klein credits to Sigwart.^[3][8] Partridge suggests a connection with spurcus (“impure, filthy”),^[11] and Wiktionary mentions a possible link with spernō.^[1] Latin also gave Italian spurio and Spanish espurio.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, conceived or born to parents not married to each other: 1598, in Hall's Virgidemiarum.^[2][4][9] Etymonline likewise dates this sense to the 1590s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word moved from a birth outside marriage to anything of doubtful origin.^[12] A figurative use appears as early as 1598, in Marston's Scourge of Villanie.^[2] Jonson's Poetaster has the sense of an irregular origin, not properly qualified or constituted; the OED dates the play 1602 and Barnhart 1601.^[2][4] The sense "false, sham, counterfeit" followed in 1615, first of material things, and since 1646 of qualities and conditions.^[2][4][3] Of a writing that does not come from its reputed author it is recorded from 1624.^[2][3] Medical use is recorded from 1693, and species names of animals took the word from 1781.^[2] Johnson (1755) already lists "not genuine; counterfeit" first and "not legitimate; bastard" second,^[13] and the birth sense is now rare.^[14][6] More recent technical uses include a plant part that only looks like another and an unwanted electrical signal or radiation.^[14][6]

Timeline

• 1598 – of a person, illegitimate, in Hall.^[2][4][9]
• 1602 – having an irregular origin, not properly constituted, in Jonson.^[2] Barnhart dates the play 1601.^[4]
• 1615 – false, counterfeit, of material things.^[2][4]
• 1624 – of a writing, not from its reputed author.^[2][3]
• 1646 – false, of qualities or conditions.^[2]
• 1651 – of words or passages, not genuine.^[2]
• 1693 – in medical use.^[2]
• 1781 – in the specific names of animals.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Not genuine though seeming so; false or counterfeit: The court dismissed her spurious claim to the estate.^[14][2][9]
2. Of a writing or passage: not really from its supposed author or source; not authentic: Scholars reject the last chapter as spurious.^[2][6][3]
3. Of a plant part: looking like another part but differing in origin or function.^[14]
4. Of radiation or an electrical signal: unwanted, as when produced at an undesired frequency, causing interference.^[14][6]
5. (rare) Born to parents not married to each other; illegitimate.^[14][2][6]
6. (rare) Having an irregular origin; not properly qualified or constituted.^[2][6]

Word family

• spuriously
• spuriousness
• unspurious
• nonspurious

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins