venom

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English venim, also venym and later venom,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Anglo-Norman venim and Old French venim, a variant of venin,^[6][2][3][7] from Vulgar Latin *venīmen,^[2][8][7][9] an alteration of Latin venēnum (“drug, potion, poison”).^[5][7][4][9] Klein and the Shorter Oxford explain the Vulgar Latin form as a change of suffix after Latin nouns in -īmen,^[5][10] while the OED thinks the change of final -n to -m may be due to dissimilation, as in the variant velin and veleno.^[6] The Latin word is also the source of veneno and veneno.^[6][2] The Latin word is thought to have meant first "love potion",^[2][5][3] from Proto-Indo-European *wenes-no-, from the root Proto-Indo-European *wen- (“to desire, strive for”), the source of venus (“love, sexual desire”),^[2][8][4] though Ayto calls this derivation speculation.^[9] The Anglo-Norman word, recorded from the early 12th century, meant poison, corruption and sorcery.^[11] The verb is venimen, from Old French venimer (“to envenom”), or from the noun.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The poisonous fluid of snakes and other animals: about 1220, in the Bestiary printed in the Old English Miscellany.^[6][3] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-13th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From about 1290 the word was used of poison in general, as given to or drunk by a person, a sense now rare.^[6] The figurative sense, a harmful influence or bitter, spiteful feeling or language, is dated to about 1300 by Etymonline and before 1325 by Barnhart,^[2][3] and the OED's earliest example of venom of sin or envy is from about 1315.^[6] The modern spelling venom is recorded from the late 14th century, or about 1440 according to Barnhart.^[2][3] Chaucer used the word, about 1374, for a dye, a sense that died out by 1552.^[6] A verb, to poison or to make venomous, is recorded from about 1330;^[6] it has been largely replaced by envenom.^[6][4]

Timeline

• c. 1220 – the poisonous fluid of snakes and other animals.^[6][3]
• c. 1290 – poison in general (now rare).^[6]
• c. 1315 – figurative, the venom of sin, envy and so on.^[6]
• c. 1330 – verb, to poison.^[6]
• c. 1374 – a dye (obsolete by 1552).^[6]
• c. 1380 – bitter, virulent feeling or language.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A poisonous fluid made by some animals, such as snakes, scorpions and bees, and passed on by a bite or sting: The spider's venom paralyses its prey.^[12][4][6]
2. Bitter spite or malice, especially in words: She answered with unexpected venom.^[12][4][6]
3. (rare) Poison of any kind.^[4][6]

Verb

1. (archaic) To poison, or to make poisonous; to envenom.^[4][6]

Word family

• venomless
• antivenom
• envenom
• envenomation
• nonvenomous
• venomous

Related words

• venereal
• venerate
• Venus
• win

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins