strife

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English strif,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French estrif (“fight, combat; dispute, quarrel”),^[5][6][7][2] also Anglo-Norman estreif.^[6] The Anglo-Norman noun is recorded from about 1136, with senses that include strife, inner torment, dispute and rivalry.^[8] The OED, Hoad and the Shorter Oxford relate it to estriver, the source of strive,^[5][9][10] and Collins and Merriam-Webster take it as probably from that verb;^[11][12] the Oxford dictionaries call the English word a shortening of the French one.^[13][10] Barnhart explains estrif as the accusative of an assumed *estris, a variant of estrit (“quarrel, dispute, impetuosity”).^[7] The word is not found outside French, and most dictionaries trace it to Frankish *strīd (“strife, combat”) or another Germanic source;^[6][2][7][3] compare Old High German strīt (“quarrel, dispute”) and strītan (“to fight”),^[6][7][3] which Etymonline and Klein connect with stride.^[6][3] Hoad, however, calls the origin unknown.^[9] Skeat saw it as a French modification of a Scandinavian word.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Contention, antagonism, discord: before 1200 in Barnhart and about 1225 in the OED, in both cases in the Ancrene Riwle.^[7][5] An act of contention, a quarrel or fight, is recorded in the Legend of Saint Katherine (before 1225).^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the beginning the word covered both the state of discord and a single quarrel or fight.^[5][6] For a while it could also mean toil, trouble or distress, used now and then for the rhyme (before 1325 to 1567).^[5][10] Many Middle English phrases built on it have died out: without strife, without doubt (1297–1407), by strife, by force (about 1330–1540), and to make strife, to quarrel.^[5] From 1530 it also meant competition or rivalry,^[5] and Collins still records the archaic sense "striving".^[11] The spelling strife appears about 1375.^[7] A variant strift, a quarrel (about 1400) and later the act of striving (1610s), is obsolete;^[6] Etymonline compares the pairs thrive and thrift, drive and drift.^[6] In Australian and New Zealand slang strife is trouble or difficulty, especially in the phrase in strife: Green's Dictionary of Slang quotes it from 1914,^[15] the OED from 1963.^[5][11] In Galloway strife riggs were patches of disputed common land.^[16]

Timeline

• before 1200 – contention, discord, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[7][5]
• before 1225 – a quarrel or fight.^[5]
• 1303 – to make strife, to cause dissension.^[5]
• c. 1375 – the spelling strife.^[7]
• 1488 – at strife, at variance.^[5]
• 1530 – competition, rivalry.^[5]
• 1535 – a subject of contention.^[5]
• 1914 – in Australian slang, trouble, in strife.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. Bitter, sometimes violent conflict or dissension: years of civil strife.^[11][12][5]
2. A single quarrel, fight or struggle.^[12][5]
3. Bitter rivalry or contention.^[11][5]
4. (Australia and New Zealand, informal) Trouble or difficulty of any kind: He's in strife with the council again.^[11][5][15]
5. at strife: in disagreement.^[5][10]
6. (archaic) Striving, effort.^[11][12]

Word family

• strifeless
• strifeful

Related words

• strive
• stride

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)