suspicious

Pronunciation

• IPA: /səˈspɪʃ.əs/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English suspecious, borrowed from Anglo-Norman suspecious, Old French suspicios,^[2][3][4] from Latin suspiciosus (“causing mistrust; ready to suspect”),^[2][4] from suspicio, suspicion, from the stem of suspicere, to look up at, suspect (see suspect).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Open to or exciting suspicion: 1340 in the OED, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

Full of suspicion, inclined to believe ill, is from about 1400 (the late 14th century).^[5][2] Expressing or indicating suspicion is from 1478 (the late 15th century).^[5][2] Etymonline notes that the two opposite directions of meaning, both present in classical Latin, have caused continued confusion,^[2] and that Poe proposed suspectful for the sense feeling suspicion.^[2] Suspicious-looking is from 1843.^[5]

Timeline

• 1340 – arousing suspicion.^[5]
• c. 1400 – inclined to suspect.^[5]
• 1478 – expressing suspicion.^[5]
• 1843 – suspicious-looking.^[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Causing or likely to cause suspicion; questionable.
2. Inclined to suspect; distrustful.
3. Expressing suspicion: a suspicious glance.

Word family

• suspiciously
• suspiciousness
• oversuspicious
• supersuspicious
• unsuspicious

Related words

• suspect
• suspicion
• unsuspecting
• inspect
• spectacle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press