wrath

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wraththe, later wrath,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English wrǣþþu, also wrǣþþo,^[5][4][6] formed from Old English wrāþ (“angry”) + -þu,^[5][7][3] the source of wroth.^[5][7] The suffix, from Proto-Germanic *-iþō, is the one in strength and width.^[5][7] The OED notes that the long vowel was shortened before the double consonant, giving the Middle English types wreþþe and wraþþe; the modern word comes from the second, with later lengthening of the vowel as in path.^[5] The adjective goes back to Proto-Germanic *wraiþaz (“twisted; angry”), derived from the strong verb *wrīþaną (“to twist, wind”),^[8][9] the source of writhe.^[6][8] Its cognates include Old Norse reiðr (“angry”), Old Saxon wrēth (“hostile”) and Old High German reid (“curly, twisted”),^[8][9][6] and Klein gives its original sense as "crooked, twisted".^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vehement anger, in phrases such as in wrath: Old English, in the Lindisfarne Gospels (Mark 3:5).^[5][2] The righteous anger of God is also recorded in Old English,^[5] and Etymonline notes that the Old English word was used especially of a deity's anger.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In general use the word is recorded from about 1175, and for a single fit of anger from before 1200, in Vices and Virtues.^[5][2] From about 1450 it could also mean an act done in anger.^[5] Caxton used it in 1490 for impetuous ardour or fury, a sense lost by the early 17th century,^[5] and Spenser in 1579 for the violence of a natural force.^[5] The biblical day of wrath is from the mid-14th century and wrath of God is in Malory in the late 15th century;^[7] like the wrath of God later came to mean "dreadful, dreadfully".^[5] A verb wrath, to be angry or to anger, was used from about 1175 to about 1500.^[5][10] The adjective wrath, angry, recorded from 1535, is a variant of wroth influenced by the noun.^[5][10][4] Johnson (1755) defined the noun simply as "anger; fury; rage",^[11] and the Shorter Oxford now labels it literary.^[10]

Timeline

• Old English – vehement anger, in phrases such as in wrath, and God's anger.^[5]
• c. 1175 – in general use.^[5]
• c. 1175 – verb, to be or make angry (obsolete).^[5]
• before 1200 – a fit of anger.^[5][2]
• mid-14th century – day of wrath.^[7]
• c. 1450 – an act done in anger.^[5]
• 1490 – impetuous ardour or fury (obsolete).^[5]
• 1535 – adjective, angry.^[5][4]
• 1579 – the violence of a natural force.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Intense, violent anger or indignation: the wrath of the shareholders.
2. Divine vengeance or retribution.
3. (archaic) A fit of anger, or an act done in anger.

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Angry; wrathful.

Word family

• unwrathful
• wrathful
• wrathy

Related words

• wroth
• writhe
• wreath

Usage notes

The OED notes that the pronunciation with the vowel of father, once common in England, was displaced there by one with a rounded vowel,^[5] while American dictionaries give the vowel of bath.^[5][4] In Cornish dialect wrath was the name of the fishes of the wrasse family.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)