unpleasant English · revision 39564

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1430}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ʌnˈplɛzn̩t/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|en|un-|pleasant]].^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(SOED 2002) The MED enters it as [[m|enm|unplesaunt]], formed on [[m|enm|plesaunt]],^(MED) and the OED compares [[unpleasing]].^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Displeasing to God: about 1430, the first example in the OED.^(OED 2026) The MED's example is from ''Dives and Pauper'' (about 1410), where patience makes people pleasing in the sight of God and wrath makes them unpleasing and unloved.^(MED) Etymonline also dates this sense to the early 15th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By the 1530s the word meant, in general, not giving pleasure, disagreeable;^(Etymonline) the OED notes that it is now chiefly used in a weakened sense, “not nice”.^(OED 2026) Of people and their manner, “unfriendly, unkind, rude”, it is recorded from 1603, in Philemon Holland's translation of Plutarch's ''Morals''.^(OED 2026) From 1558 to 1768 it could also mean not humorous or amusing,^(OED 2026) a sense SOED calls long rare.^(SOED 2002) Johnson (1755) glossed it as not delighting, troublesome, uneasy, quoting Shakespeare's ''Merchant of Venice'': “Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words / That ever blotted paper”.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1410 – displeasing to God, in ''Dives and Pauper''.^(MED)

+ * c. 1430 – the OED's first example.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1530s – not giving pleasure, disagreeable.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1558 – not amusing (obsolete by 1768).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1603 – of a person: unfriendly, rude.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1755 – Johnson: not delighting, troublesome.^(Johnson 1755)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Not [[pleasant]]; causing discomfort or dislike: ''an unpleasant taste''.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # Of a person or manner: unfriendly, unkind or [[rude]].^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[unpleasantly]]

+ * [[unpleasantry]]

+ * [[unpleasantness]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pleasant]]

+ * [[please]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}