Etymologically
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wretched

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 22:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɹɛt͡ʃɪd/[1]
  • US: /ˈɹɛt͡ʃəd/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wrecched,[2][3][4][5] formed irregularly from Middle English wrecche (“wretched, miserable”) + -ed,[2][6][7][8][9] like wicked.[7][10][6] The adjective wrecche goes back to late Old English and comes from the noun wretch,[6] which is from Old English wrecca (“exile, stranger, wretch”),[6][10][7] from Proto-Germanic *wrakjô (“pursuer; one pursued”).[6] The noun is related to wreak, and its cognates include Old Saxon wrekkio, Old High German reccheo (“exile, adventurer”) and German Recke (“warrior, hero”);[7][10][6] the OED remarks on how differently the meaning developed in English and German.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of persons, living in misery or distress, very unhappy: before 1200, in Vices and Virtues.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English wrecched meant subjected to hardship or misfortune, of a place desolate, and also poor or of low social standing.[2] Of conditions, marked by misery, it is recorded from about 1200, and the sense "base, contemptible" from about 1250.[7] From 1450 it was used of things that are mean, paltry or worthless; since 1482 it has also been said of people poor in ability.[7] The noun, the wretched, is found in the later Wycliffite Bible.[7] The word could once mean "wicked", as wretch still does;[11] Trench noted that wretched had lost that meaning.[11] Johnson (1755) gave its senses as "miserable; unhappy", "calamitous" and "sorry; pitiful; paltry; worthless".[12] Of weather, unpleasant, it dates from 1711, in Swift.[7] The phrase the wretched of the earth (1965) translates the title of a 1961 book by F. Fanon, Damnés de la terre.[7]

Timeline

  • before 1200 – of persons, miserable, very unhappy.[7]
  • c. 1200 – of conditions, marked by misery.[7]
  • c. 1250 – base, contemptible.[7]
  • 1450 – mean, paltry, worthless.[7]
  • 1482 – of persons or animals, poor in ability.[7]
  • 1711 – of weather, very unpleasant.[7]
  • 1965 – the wretched of the earth.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Deeply unhappy or unfortunate; living in misery or poverty: The wretched refugees waited for days at the border.[13][3][7]
  2. Marked by or causing misery or discomfort: wretched housing.[13][7]
  3. Of poor quality; paltry or inferior.[13][7]
  4. Despicable or base.[13][7]
  5. Used to stress annoyance at something: This wretched printer has jammed again.[13]

Word family

  • wretchedly
  • wretchedness
  • unwretched
  • wretch
  • wreak

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins