voluptuous

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English voluptuous, also spelled voluptuouse, voluptuos and volumptuous,^[2] borrowed from Old French voluptueux^{[3][4][5][6][7]} and directly borrowed from Latin voluptuōsus (“full of pleasure, delightful”),^[3][4][5][8] from voluptās (“pleasure, delight”),^[4][5][6][9] from volup (“agreeably, pleasurably”).^{[4][5][10][7]} Barnhart and Klein derive the adverb from the neuter of an unrecorded adjective *volupis (“pleasant”), probably cognate with Ancient Greek ἐλπίς (elpís, “hope”);^[5][9][8] the Latin words are ultimately related to volō (“to wish, will”),^[5][8][11] from Proto-Indo-European *wel- (“to wish, will”).^[4][9] Ayto glosses the Indo-European base "be pleasing" and names volunteer and will as its other English descendants.^[10] Dictionary.com explains the -u- of the Latin adjective as probably due to association with sūmptuōsus, the source of sumptuous.^[12] Compare Spanish voluptuoso, Portuguese voluptuoso and Italian voluttuoso.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of desires or appetites, aimed at sensual gratification: about 1374, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde ("lust voluptuous").^[3][2] Barnhart dates the word to about 1380, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius, which has "voluptuous delyt".^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word described pleasure, especially sensual pleasure, and those who sought it,^[2] and its range widened from desires (about 1374) to pleasures (about 1407, in Lydgate), ways of life (15th century) and food and feasting (1544).^[3] The sense of a person given to sensual indulgence and luxury is recorded from about 1440,^[3][4] and Johnson (1755) defined the word as "given to excess of pleasure; luxurious".^[13] Ayto notes that on its way through French the Latin word, which meant simply "giving pleasure", took on the connotation of sensual pleasure.^[10] From 1816, in Byron, it was used of things that suggest or excite sensuous pleasure,^[3][4] and since 1839 of fullness and beauty of form,^[3] especially in describing feminine beauty;^[4][14] the Concise Oxford lists this sense first.^[15] Etymonline notes that an unetymological -m- (volumptuous) appears from about 1400 in English and also in Old French.^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – of desires, aimed at sensual pleasure, in Chaucer.^[3][2]
• c. 1407 – of pleasure or pleasant sensations.^[3]
• c. 1440 – of people, given to sensual pleasure and luxurious living.^[3][4]
• 1544 – of fare or feasting.^[3]
• 1687 – of places.^[3]
• 1816 – suggesting or giving delicious, sensuous pleasure, in Byron.^[3][4]
• 1839 – suggesting sensuous pleasure by fullness and beauty of form.^[3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to, giving or arising from sensual pleasure; luxurious: the voluptuous scent of the lilies.^[6][16][8]
2. Of a woman or her figure, curvaceous and sexually attractive.^[6][16][15]
3. Devoted to or indulging in sensual pleasures and luxury.^[6][16][3]

Word family

• voluptuously
• voluptuousness
• unvoluptuous

Related words

• voluptuary
• volupty
• volunteer
• voluntary
• will
• sumptuous

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins