miserable English · revision 10279

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1412|origins=fro miserable|origins=la miserabilis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹəbəl/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is late Middle English, [[bor|fro|miserable]] and directly from Latin miserābilis, pitiable, lamentable,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from miserārī, to pity, lament, from miser, wretched (see [[miser]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) with the suffix [[-able]].^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Very unhappy, wretched: about 1412 in Barnhart; full of misery, causing wretchedness, of conditions, in the early 15th century in Etymonline.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of persons, existing in a state of want or suffering, it is from the 1520s (1526 in the OED),^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and mentally full of misery, unhappy in feeling, by the 1590s (1591).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Pitiably unworthy or meagre, contemptible, is from 1500–20,^(OED 1989) and pitiable or deplorable from 1552.^(OED 1989) The weakened sense, causing great discomfort, is from 1850.^(OED 1989) The noun, an unhappy creature, is from the 1530s, reinforced later by the French cognate, as in Hugo's ''Les Misérables''.^(Etymonline) The related [[misery]] is older, from about 1375 in Chaucer.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1412 – wretched.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1500–20 – contemptible.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1526 – in a state of misery.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1530s – the noun.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1591 – unhappy in feeling.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1850 – causing discomfort.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Very unhappy or uncomfortable; [[wretched]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Causing great discomfort or distress: ''a miserable life''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Contemptible or shameful.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Wretchedly inadequate or of poor quality.^(AHD)

+ # ''(Scotland, Australia, New Zealand)'' Mean or stingy.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[miserableness]]

+ * [[miserably]]

+ * [[immiseration]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[miser]]

+ * [[misery]]

+ * [[commiserate]]

+ * [[misère]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The sense mean or miserly is also found in English dialects of Lancashire, Worcestershire, Pembrokeshire and the south.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}