Etymologically
Log in

terrible

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:26. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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