Etymologically
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terrible

Etymology and origin of the English word terrible

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
before 1387
Borrowed from
Old French terrible via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin (terreō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈter.ə.bᵊl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English terrible,[2] borrowed from Old French terrible and directly from Latin terribilis (“frightful”),[3][4] from terrēre (“to fill with fear, frighten”),[3][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *tros- (“to make afraid”),[3] the root also of Sanskrit trasanti “they tremble” and Old Church Slavonic tresǫ “I shake”.[3] It is related to terror, terrify and deter.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Causing terror, frightful: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,[4] about 1400 in Etymonline,[3] and about 1430 in the OED.[6]

Semantic evolution

It was also used of the sources of feelings akin to dread, “violently severe”, from the 1590s,[3] with Barnhart dating the general “very bad, awful” to 1596.[4][6] By the 18th century it had weakened to a mere intensive, “great, severe”, as in a terrible bore, like awful and terrific.[3] It was often used of misbehaving children, then of adults,[3] of a person behaving outrageously from 1859,[6] and the terrible twos is from 1949.[3] “Very bad, extremely incompetent” is colloquial from 1913 in Etymonline[3] and 1925 in the OED.[6] The adverb terribly is from 1526, and its informal sense “extremely” from 1833, in Dickens's letters.[4]

Timeline

  • before 1387 – causing terror.[4]
  • 1526 – terribly.[4]
  • 1596 – very bad, severe.[4][6]
  • 18th century – an intensive.[3]
  • 1859 – of an outrageous person.[6]
  • 1913 – very bad, incompetent.[3]
  • 1949 – terrible twos.[3]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Causing great fear; dreadful.
  2. Extremely formidable.
  3. Extreme in degree: a terrible mess.
  4. Very bad; unpleasant or of poor quality.
  5. Feeling ill or unhappy: I feel terrible.

Word family

  • terribleness
  • terribly
  • unterrible
  • terrific
  • terrify
  • terrifying
  • terror
  • terrorist
  • terrorize
  • deter

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Terrible.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/terrible. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

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