dangerous English · revision 2957

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1225|origins=fro dangier}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈdeɪn.dʒᵊr.əs/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|daungerous|t=haughty, hard to please]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|xno|dangerous]], Old French dangeros,^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) from [[m|fro|dangier|t=power, mastery, power to harm]] and the suffix -eus.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024)^(NODE 1998) See [[danger]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Difficult to deal with, haughty, arrogant: before 1225 in the OED,^(OED 1989) about 1200 in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first senses came from danger in its old meaning of “power, mastery”: someone ''daungerous'' was overbearing, hard to please or reluctant to give, as often in Chaucer.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998) The modern sense, “full of risk, likely to cause harm”, is from about 1400 in Etymonline^(Etymonline) and 1490 in the OED.^(OED 1989) “Hurtful” is from 1548 and is obsolete.^(OED 1989) “In danger, dangerously ill” is from before 1616 and survives in dialect and American colloquial use.^(OED 1989)^(Wright 1898) Other words once used in the modern sense were ''dangerful'' (1540s) and ''dangersome'' (1560s).^(Etymonline) In southern Pembrokeshire dialect ''dangerous'' meant “excessive”.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1225 – haughty, difficult.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1386 – hard to please; reluctant to give.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1400 – risky, likely to cause harm.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1548 – hurtful.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1616 – dangerously ill.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Likely to cause harm or injury; [[hazardous]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Likely to cause problems or have bad consequences: ''a dangerous precedent''.^(NODE 1998)^(COED 2004)

+ # ''(dialect)'' Seriously ill.^(OED 1989)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dangerously]]

+ * [[dangerousness]]

+ * [[nondangerous]]

+ * [[semidangerous]]

+ * [[undangerous]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[danger]]

+ * [[dominion]]

+ * [[dungeon]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}