sullen

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English solein, also soleyn and solain,^[2][3][4][5] later sollen (1573) and sullen,^[4][2] borrowed from Anglo-Norman sulein (“single, alone, solitary”),^[6][7][8] recorded from the third quarter of the 12th century.^[8] The OED and Barnhart give the form as an unattested *solein.^[2][4] It is built on sul (“alone, single”), from Latin sōlus (“by oneself, alone”),^[6][8][3][9] probably on the pattern of Old French soltain and soutain, from Vulgar Latin *sōlitānus.^[4][2][10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged prefers Middle French solain, attested only for food for one person, from an assumed Vulgar Latin *sōlānus.^[11][12] Dictionary.com leaves the Middle English word's source open.^[13] Weekley took the form as a popular variant of solemn, influenced by the word for "alone".^[14] The American Heritage Dictionary refers the Latin adjective to Proto-Indo-European *s(w)e-,^[15] while Etymonline calls it of unknown origin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Unique, singular: about 1369, as soleyn, in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess.^[2][4] The OED treats this Middle English word as a separate headword and dates the spelling sullen from 1570,^[2] while Barnhart dates sullen from 1577.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word's history runs from being alone to being unwilling to have company.^[16][9] About 1381, in Chaucer's Parliament of Fowls, soleyn means all alone, without a companion,^[2][4] and by 1399, in Richard Redeles, it means averse to society, morose.^[2][4] Etymonline glosses the shift as remaining alone through ill humour, and the older senses faded.^[3] In the 16th century the mood passed to animals and things that would not yield (1577), then to dull colours (before 1586), dismal states (1597, in Shakespeare's Richard II) and deep mournful sounds (1599, in Romeo and Juliet).^[2] Drayton applied it to slow water in 1622, a poetic use still alive.^[2][17] A sense of "solemn, serious" ran from 1583 to 1719,^[2][6] and one of "baleful" from 1676 to 1703.^[2] Johnson (1755), who found the etymology obscure, listed "gloomily angry", "malignant", "obstinate" and "gloomy; dark; cloudy; dismal".^[18] The Century Dictionary, quoted by Etymonline, says that the sullen man "repels friendly advances by silence and a lowering aspect rather than by words".^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1369 – as soleyn, unique, singular (until 1475).^[2][4]
• c. 1381 – all alone, solitary (until 1542).^[2]
• 1399 – averse to society, morose.^[2][4]
• 1570 – the spelling sullen, of gloomy ill humour.^[2]
• 1577 – of animals and things, obstinate, stubborn.^[2]
• 1580 – noun, the sullens, a gloomy mood.^[2]
• before 1586 – of a dull colour, of gloomy aspect.^[2]
• 1597 – of immaterial things, gloomy, dismal.^[2]
• 1599 – of a sound, deep, dull, mournful.^[2]
• 1622 – of water, sluggish.^[2]
• 1628 – verb, to make sullen.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Silently resentful or ill-humoured and unwilling to be sociable; morose, sulky: The boy gave a sullen shrug and left the table.^[17][11][2]
2. Showing or suggesting such a mood: a sullen silence.^[11][2]
3. Obstinate or refractory, as an animal or a thing: a sullen mule.^[11][2]
4. Sombre, dull or dismal in look: a sullen winter sky.^[17][2]
5. Of a sound, deep, dull and mournful (chiefly poetic).^[2][6]
6. Of water, slow-moving; sluggish (literary).^[17][2]
7. Baleful, threatening (obsolete, 1676–1703).^[2][17]
8. Solemn, serious (obsolete, 1583–1719).^[2][6]

Noun

1. the sullens: a gloomy mood; the sulks (archaic).^[17][6][2]

Verb

1. To make sullen or sluggish (rare).^[2][6]

Adverb

1. Sullenly (rare).^[2][6]

Word family

• sullenly
• sullenness
• unsullen

Related words

• sole
• solitary
• solo

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 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
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 c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
15. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
16. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.