evil English · revision 3966

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 725, Beowulf|origins=gem-pro *ubilaz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈiː.vᵊl/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|evel]],^(Barnhart 1988) [[inh|ang|yfel|t=bad, wicked, vicious]] (Kentish evel),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from [[gem-pro|*ubilaz]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) which is also the source of Old Saxon ubil, Old Frisian and Middle Dutch evel, Old High German ubil (German übel) and Gothic ubils.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline traces it to [[ine-pro|*upelo-]], from a root *wap- “bad”, which also gave Hittite huwapp- “evil”;^(Etymonline) Barnhart and Hoad instead derive it from the root of [[up]] and [[over]], Hoad giving the original sense as “exceeding due limits”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Merriam-Webster also compares Old English ūp “up”.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Morally depraved, wicked: Barnhart dates the Old English adjective to about 725, in ''Beowulf'',^(Barnhart 1988) and the OED's first example is from 971.^(OED 1989) The noun, what is evil, is from Old English too.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old English and the other older Germanic languages except Scandinavian, it was the most general word of disapproval, used where modern English has ''bad'', ''cruel'', ''defective'', ''harm'', ''crime'' or ''disease''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In Middle English [[bad]] took over the wider range, and ''evil'' narrowed to moral badness;^(Etymonline) the sense “extreme moral wickedness” only became the main sense of the word in the 18th century.^(Etymonline) The noun was used especially of a disease from about 1200.^(Etymonline) Of things, “causing harm” is from about 1175, and “unpleasant, offensive” from before 1131.^(OED 1989) The ''evil eye'' goes back to Old English eage yfel, like Latin oculus malus.^(Etymonline) The phrase ''necessary evil'' goes back to Greek; its first English example, from 1547, refers to a woman.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 725 – adjective, in ''Beowulf''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 971 – morally bad, wicked.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1175 – noun, ''evel''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1200 – a disease.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1273 – spelling ''evil'', in the surname Evilchild.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1520s – ''evil-favoured'', ugly.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1547 – ''necessary evil''.^(Cresswell 2021)

+ * 18th century – extreme wickedness becomes the main sense.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Morally bad; [[wicked]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Causing harm, ruin or pain.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # [[omen|alt=Ominous]]; foreboding misfortune.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Of bad repute; [[infamous]].^(AHD)

+ # [[malice|alt=Malicious]] or spiteful: ''an evil temper''.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # Wickedness; moral badness.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Something that causes harm or suffering.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # An evil force or power, or its personification.^(AHD)

+

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(archaic)'' In an evil manner: ''to speak evil of''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[evilly]]

+ * [[evilness]]

+ * [[unevil]]

+ * [[evil-minded]]

+ * [[nonevil]]

+ * [[evildoer]]

+ * [[evildoing]]

+ * [[evil eye]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ill]]

+ * [[bad]]

+ * [[up]]

+ * [[over]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall dialect, ''evil'' (also ''eel'') was a three-pronged fork, which Merriam-Webster derives from Old English geafol “fork”.^(Wright 1898)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}