Etymologically
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worse

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /wɜːs/, US /wɝːs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English werse, wurse, worse,[2][3] inherited from Old English wiersa (“more evil, culpable, unpleasant”), wyrsa,[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *wers-izon-,[4] the comparative of Proto-Indo-European *wers- (“to confuse, mix up”), according to Watkins,[4] the source also of Old High German werran “to confuse” and of war.[4][5][6] It is cognate with Old Frisian werra, Old Saxon wirsa, Old High German wirsiro, Old Norse verri and Gothic wairsiza.[2][5] The adverb is Old English wyrs.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English, about 725 in Beowulf,[2] with the meanings “more wicked”, “more harmful or unpleasant” and “of lower quality”, all first quoted in the OED from about 888.[7]

Semantic evolution

It serves as the comparative of bad, evil and ill, and as the opposite of better.[4][7] Of things, “in less good condition, less valuable”, it is by about 1200.[4] The Middle English form werse was altered to worse by 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.[2] The noun, “that which is more evil”, is from Old English, and “that which is more unpleasant or inferior” by the early 14th century.[4] For better or for worse is from the late 14th century,[4] and change for the worse from about 1400.[4] Worse and worse is from 1154.[7] Old English had a verb wyrsian, “to become worse”, which survived in non-standard use;[8] it has been replaced by worsen.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English wiersa.[2]
  • 1154 – worse and worse.[7]
  • c. 1200 – of things, in poorer condition.[4]
  • 1340 – the spelling worse.[2]
  • late 14th century – for better or for worse.[4]
  • c. 1400 – for the worse.[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Of poorer quality, condition or effect; more inferior.
  2. More severe or unfavorable; less desirable.
  3. In poorer health; more ill.

Adverb

  1. In a worse way; to a worse degree.

Noun

  1. Something worse: a change for the worse.

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press