sully

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Middle French souiller (“to soil, make dirty”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} from Old French soillier (“to make dirty”),^[9][2] the source of soil in the sense "to make dirty".^[5][4][7] Etymonline thinks it was probably influenced by, or confused with, Middle English sulen (“to become dirty”), from Old English sylian (“to defile, bemire”).^[9][10] Skeat took that Old English verb, a derivative of sol (“mud, mire”), as the source, but doubted whether the Middle English verb was the same word, and otherwise derived sully from the French verb.^[11] Dictionary.com calls the origin uncertain.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To soil or stain: Etymonline finds it implied in sullied in the 1570s.^[9] Barnhart's first record is in Shakespeare's 1 Henry VI (1591),^[2] and the OED's is the intransitive use, to become soiled, in 1 Henry IV (1598).^[5] Merriam-Webster dates its first known use to the 15th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word was used both literally, of making something dirty, and figuratively, of staining a name or reputation.^[5][13] Weekley notes that it is first found in Shakespeare.^[8] The intransitive use, to become soiled or tarnished, lasted from 1598 to 1670.^[5][3] The literal sense, recorded from 1601, is now rare or poetic,^[5] and the verb is now used mostly of reputations, names and ideals.^[14][3] The noun, a stain or blemish, is first found in Hamlet and lasted into the 18th century;^[5] Johnson (1755) quoted Addison on spots and sullies in a reputation.^[15][3]

Timeline

• 1570s – implied in the participle sullied.^[9]
• 1591 – to stain, tarnish, in Shakespeare's 1 Henry VI.^[2]
• 1598 – intransitive, to become soiled (obsolete by 1670).^[5]
• 1601 – to make dirty, in the material sense (now rare or poetic).^[5]
• before 1616 – noun, a stain or blemish, in Shakespeare's Hamlet (obsolete by 1762).^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To stain or tarnish a reputation, name or quality; to defile: The scandal sullied the family's good name.^[14][3][5]
2. To make dirty; to soil.^[3][5][13]
3. (obsolete, 1598–1670) To become soiled or tarnished.^[5][3]

Noun

1. (archaic) A stain or blemish.^{[3][14][5][15]}

Word family

• sulliable
• unsullied

Related words

• soil

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.