wrong

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɒŋ/, US /rɑːŋ/, /rɔːŋ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wrong (also wrang), late inherited from Old English wrang,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old Norse rangr (“awry, unjust”), earlier *vrangr (“crooked, wry”),^[2][5][6] from Proto-Germanic *wrang-,^[2] which Watkins traces to Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[2] It is related to wring,^[5][7][8] and its relatives include Danish vrang (“crooked, wrong”) and Dutch wrang (“sour, bitter”), literally “twisting the mouth”.^[2][8] So wrong is in origin the opposite of right, which is related to Latin rectus (“straight”).^[2] Klein compares French tort (“wrong”) from Latin tortus (“twisted”).^[8][9] Barnhart notes that the adjective is hardly recorded in Old English, apart perhaps from a document of 944.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Twisted, crooked, wry, senses now obsolete: late Old English,^[2][11] and in Middle English wrang probably before 1200, in the Ormulum.^[10] The noun, “a wrongful act”, is recorded in 1067.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The moral sense “not right, unjust, immoral” developed by about 1300,^[2] and Barnhart finds it before 1325 in the Cursor Mundi.^[10] The noun “an unjust action” is from about 1200.^[2] “Not in accord with the facts” is mid-14th century,^[2] and of people, “mistaken”, early 15th century.^[2] The adverb is from about 1200,^[2][10] and the verb “to treat unjustly” from the early 14th century,^[2] first in Mannyng's Chronicle before 1338.^[10] In the wrong dates from about 1400.^[2] The w was pronounced until the 17th century, and many words beginning with wr-, such as wrist, writhe and wreathe, share the idea of twisting.^[11] The wrong end of the stick (late 18th century) first meant “the worse side of a deal”.^[11] Get up on the wrong side of the bed is recorded from 1801.^[2]

Timeline

• 1067 – noun, a wrongful act.^[10]
• before 1200 – wrang, twisted (Ormulum).^[10]
• c. 1200 – adverb; noun, an injustice.^[2]
• c. 1300 – not right, immoral.^[2]
• before 1338 – verb, to wrong (Mannyng).^[10]
• mid-14th century – incorrect.^[2]
• c. 1400 – in the wrong.^[2]
• early 15th century – of a person, mistaken.^[2]
• 1801 – the wrong side of the bed.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Not in accord with fact or truth; incorrect.
2. Contrary to conscience, morality or law; immoral or unjust.
3. Not the one wanted or intended: the wrong train.
4. Not suitable; improper.
5. Not working properly: something is wrong with the engine.

Adverb

1. Mistakenly; in a wrong way or direction.

Noun

1. An unjust or harmful act.
2. (law) A violation of another's legal rights; a tort.
3. The state of being in error or at fault: in the wrong.

Verb

1. To treat unjustly or harmfully.
2. To discredit unjustly; to malign.

Word family

• wronger
• wrongly
• wrongness
• wrongdoer
• wrongdoing
• wrongheaded
• wrongful
• self-wrong

Related words

• wring
• wrench
• wrinkle
• wrist
• writhe
• right
• tort

Usage notes

A separate dialect word wrong, from Old Norse rǫng, meant a rib of a ship and later a crooked bough.^[7][12]

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 h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press