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unpleasant

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Etymology and origin of the English word unpleasant

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1430
Ultimate origins
English un-Old French plaisant
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English pleasant
English unpleasant

Pronunciation

  • /ʌnˈplɛzn̩t/[1]

Etymology

It is from English un- + pleasant.[2][3][4][5] The MED enters it as unplesaunt, formed on plesaunt,[6] and the OED compares unpleasing.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Displeasing to God: about 1430, the first example in the OED.[2] The MED's example is from Dives and Pauper (about 1410), where patience makes people pleasing in the sight of God and wrath makes them unpleasing and unloved.[6] Etymonline also dates this sense to the early 15th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

By the 1530s the word meant, in general, not giving pleasure, disagreeable;[3] the OED notes that it is now chiefly used in a weakened sense, “not nice”.[2] Of people and their manner, “unfriendly, unkind, rude”, it is recorded from 1603, in Philemon Holland's translation of Plutarch's Morals.[2] From 1558 to 1768 it could also mean not humorous or amusing,[2] a sense SOED calls long rare.[5] Johnson (1755) glossed it as not delighting, troublesome, uneasy, quoting Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice: “Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words / That ever blotted paper”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1410 – displeasing to God, in Dives and Pauper.[6]
  • c. 1430 – the OED's first example.[2]
  • 1530s – not giving pleasure, disagreeable.[3]
  • 1558 – not amusing (obsolete by 1768).[2]
  • 1603 – of a person: unfriendly, rude.[2]
  • 1755 – Johnson: not delighting, troublesome.[7]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not pleasant; causing discomfort or dislike: an unpleasant taste.
  2. Of a person or manner: unfriendly, unkind or rude.

Word family

  • unpleasantly
  • unpleasantry
  • unpleasantness

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  7. ^ 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.
Cite this entry

“Unpleasant.” Etymologically, 22 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/unpleasant. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·