misery English · revision 15221

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1374|origins=la miser}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹi/; /ˈmɪz(ə)ɹɪ/ ''(UK)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|miserie]], [[bor|fro|misere|t=misfortune, distress]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) from [[la|miseria|t=wretchedness]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|miser|t=wretched, pitiable]] (see [[miser]]).^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A state of external unhappiness or affliction: about 1374 in the OED, the late 14th century in Etymonline.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A miserable condition or a cause of misery is from 1509,^(OED 1989) and great sorrow or distress of mind from the 1530s.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) It meant miserliness from 1531 and a mean condition from 1607, both obsolete.^(OED 1989) Bodily pain is a dialectal sense from 1825,^(OED 1989) and in Britain a misery is informally a habitually gloomy person.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1374 – external unhappiness.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1509 – a cause of misery.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1531 – miserliness (obsolete).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1535 – mental distress.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1825 – bodily pain (dialect).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Great unhappiness or suffering; [[wretchedness]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A cause of suffering.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Squalid conditions; extreme [[poverty]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(British, informal)'' A person who is always gloomy or complaining.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(dialect)'' A pain or ailment.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[misery index]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[commiserate]]

+ * [[miser]]

+ * [[miserable]]

+ * [[miserly]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Misery for bodily pain, a continual aching, was used in Shetland, Lancashire and the eastern counties, and in American dialect.^(Wright 1898)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}