Word whose meaning has changed

Five words that have changed meaning over time

• Silly. Original meaning: Blessed with worthiness.
• Flux. Original meaning: Diarrhoea or dysentry.
• Fudge. Original meaning: Lies and nonsense.
• Leech. Original meaning: A doctor or healer.
• Stripe. Original meaning: A mark on the skin from a lash.

What is a word that has changed meaning over time?

semantic change
In diachronic (or historical) linguistics, semantic change is a change in one of the meanings of a word. Every word has a variety of senses and connotations, which can be added, removed, or altered over time, often to the extent that cognates across space and time have very different meanings.

What words have changed their meanings?

10 English Words That Have Completely Changed Meaning

• Awful. In Old English, ‘awe’ referred to “fear, terror or dread”.
• Cute. A shortening of the word ‘acute’, ‘cute’ originally meant sharp or quick-witted, and was even written with an apostrophe in place of the missing A.
• Fantastic.
• Flirt.
• Literally.
• Meat.
• Myriad.
• Nervous.

What did leech used to mean?

“Leech” has been used figuratively to mean “human parasite” since the late 1700s.

What slang words are used today?

Below are some common teen slang words you might hear:

• Dope – Cool or awesome.
• GOAT – “Greatest of All Time”
• Gucci – Good, cool, or going well.
• Lit – Amazing, cool, or exciting.
• OMG – An abbreviation for “Oh my gosh” or “Oh my God”
• Salty – Bitter, angry, agitated.
• Sic/Sick – Cool or sweet.

When a word has 2 meanings?

When words are spelled the same and sound the same but have different meanings, then they are called homonyms.

What is a word that means new and different?

Other synonyms of ‘new’ meaning ‘new and different’ are. innovative. advanced. experimental.

What animal has 32 brains?

Leech
Leech has 32 brains. A leech’s internal structure is segregated into 32 separate segments, and each of these segments has its own brain. Leech is an annelid.

What does it mean to call a person a worm?

an unpleasant person who does not deserve respect: Don’t be such a worm.

What do leaches mean?

: to remove or remove from by the action of a liquid passing through a substance Water leaches minerals from soil. The soil was leached by the constant rain. leach. transitive verb. ˈlēch

What means YEET?

Yeet is an exclamation of excitement, approval, surprise, or all-around energy, often as issued when doing a dance move or throwing something.

What are some badass words?

badass

• agitator.
• rebel.
• demagogue.
• dissident.
• fighter.
• frondeur.
• renegade.
• sparkplug.

What are some really cool words?

60+ of the Coolest, Most Epic Words in the English Language

What are the 10 homonyms?

10 Homonyms with Meanings and Sentences

• Cache – Cash:
• Scents – Sense:
• Chile – Chili:
• Choir – Quire:
• Site – Sight:
• Facts- Fax:
• Finnish – Finish:

What words have multi in them?

10 letter words containing multi

• multimedia.
• multiplier.
• multiparty.
• multistate.
• multiphase.
• multilevel.
• multitrack.
• multistage.

Homonyms, or multiple-meaning words, are words that have the same spelling and usually sound alike, but have different meanings (e.g. dog bark, tree bark).

What is a synonym for changing?

• alter,
• make over,
• modify,
• recast,
• redo,
• refashion,
• remake,
• remodel,

What is a word that means new beginning?

A rebirth, revival or revitalization of something past. resumption. resurrection. rebirth. revitalization.

What is the synonym of giant?

giant, goliath, behemoth, monster, colossusnoun. someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful. Synonyms: devil, demon, monster, lusus naturae, teras, goliath, colossus, whale, titan, monstrosity, fiend, giant, giant star, hulk, heavyweight, behemoth, ogre, freak.

What animal has 800 stomachs?

Etruscan shrew

What animal has 25000 teeth?

Snails: Even though their mouths are no larger than the head of a pin, they can have over 25,000 teeth over a lifetime – which are located on the tongue and continually lost and replaced like a shark!

Many people who feel that
the English language has been dumbed down blame this on America. Some say that
the Americans are to blame for the many slang words and colloquialisms that we
now have. Admittedly, we do tend to borrow a lot of words from American English,
and the globalization of communication has increased this trend. America is a
productive and inventive country, and this productivity and inventiveness have
been extended to its language. To some extent, British English has been
affected by this. There have been many more changes in the meaning throughout
the centuries and they are still occurring. Shall we buckle down
to discuss a few?

1. DECIMATE

The verb ‘decimate’
literally means to kill or destroy one in ten of a set of people. It is derived
from a Latin word meaning ‘to kill one in ten of a unit of soldiers who took
part in a mutiny’. The practice was doubtless intended to act as a warning to the
other nine units.

Nowadays there is not
much call for a word meaning ‘to kill one in ten people’ and the word had moved
on. It came to mean ‘to kill a large proportion of’, as in:

The disease decimated the
rabbit population of the island.

One tenth is not a huge
proportion of a whole and so possibly there was a mix-up somewhere between one
tenth being killed and one tenth surviving.

The word moved on even
further and came to mean ‘to inflict a great deal of damage on something or to
destroy a large number or part of’, as in:

The event attracted a lot
of adverse publicity to the area and decimated the tourist industry.

There was a great deal of
opposition to the changes in meaning of DECIMATE. It seems that people did not
want to let go of its connection with ten. It is advisable not to mention a
specific amount when you are using the word.

2. GAY

Many people, older or
not, disliked the widespread introduction of the ‘homosexual’ meaning of the
English adjective GAY. The word had been used in this meaning in a very limited
way since the 1930s, but it did not reach a wider audience until the late
1960s. Now, it has become such an established meaning of GAY in the
English-speaking world that it has virtually edged out the original use of
‘merry or light-hearted’.

When the ‘homosexual’
meaning first came into widespread use, quite a lot of people mourned the
passing of GAY’s original happy meaning. However, the word ‘homosexual’ was
more in need of its services than the word ‘merry’ was. 

Homosexuality is still a
controversial subject in many parts of the world where it is forbidden and
punishable by law, but the English language moves with the times and people are
happy to use this adjective which has the advantage of being neutral and nonjudgmental.

While there are quite a
few synonyms for GAY in its original sense, there are not very many for the
‘homosexual’ meaning. Words such as bent and queer are
intended to be offensive. Note that the abstract noun from GAY in its
homosexual sense is gayness, while the abstract noun from
GAY in its merry, light-hearted sense is gaiety.

3. DATA

Data is the plural form
of the word datum, but the singular form datum is
rarely used now. As a plural noun, data was formerly
always used with a plural verb, as in:

The data released by the
bank were carefully studied by financial journalists.

In modern usage, data is
often accompanied by a singular verb, as in:

The data on which the
research was based has been found to be inaccurate.

Formerly, data was
used mainly in a scientific or technical context, but it is
now frequently used with reference to computer information, and so is in more
general use. Data is the regular plural form of the singular
Latin noun datum, but, since Latin is no longer taught in many
British Schools, this fact is not now very well-known. Many people simply did
not know why data should be considered plural, and so its
singular form datum is fading from use.

4. NAUSEOUS

Nauseous is another word
that appears to be undergoing a change, but it is not exactly a word in
everyday use and the change may not yet be very obvious. The adjective
‘nauseous’, in British English, traditionally means ‘nauseating’ or
‘causing nausea’. In other words, it is a formal way of saying something makes
you feel sick or want to vomit, as in:

There was a nauseous
smell of rotten meat coming from the fridge.

In American
English, nauseous means ‘nauseated’ or ‘feeling sick’
or ‘about to vomit’, as in:

Going on a boat trip
always makes me feel nauseous, even when the sea is calm.

The British English
equivalent of American English nauseous is ‘nauseated’,
but users of British English have begun to adopt the American usage, as in:

She says that she felt
nauseous for most of her pregnancy.

5. HISTORIC/HISTORICAL

It looks as though a
change is affecting these two adjectives which are derived from the word history.
The adjectives are historic and historical, and
traditionally they have different meanings.

Strictly speaking, historic refers
to an event that is important enough or memorable enough to be recorded in
history, as in:

The Battle of Waterloo
was a historic victory for the British.

It is now often used
exaggeratedly of an event, often a sporting event, that is not nearly as
important as that description suggests, as in:

The cup final ended in a
historic victory for the English team.

According to traditional
usage, historical simply refers to something that took place
in the past or means ‘based on the study of history’, as in:

Most of the country’s
historical records are held in the national archive.

Probably because these
words sound so alike and are so frequently confused, the distinction between
them is beginning to disappear. This is bound to arouse some protest.

6. AGGRAVATE/IRRITATE

Aggravate is another word
with a long-established meaning that has acquired another meaning. This still
arouses protest from people who consider themselves language purists and
guardians of the language. They consider that the only proper meaning of aggravate is to
make worse, as in:

His headache was
aggravated by the loud music playing next door.

This meaning is
admittedly the older, having come into being in the late 16th century. However,
the meaning ‘to irritate or annoy’, as in ‘Those children have been
aggravating the neighbours all day with their noisy games’, is not far
behind in terms of age. It first made an appearance in the early 17th century.
It is this meaning that so irritates (we had better not say ‘aggravates’) some users, often older users.

7. HOPEFULLY

Changes in the language
are frequently met with great opposition, at least until people get used to
them, or until the loudest of the objectors are no longer with us. The
opposition to the introduction of hopefully was particularly
forceful. I am talking, of course, about hopefully in the
sense of ‘it is to be hoped that’, as in ‘Hopefully, we’ll get there
in time for dinner.’ rather than ‘with hope’, as in ‘We
waited hopefully for their arrival until it became clear that they were
not coming.’

Even now, people still
grumble about it, although hopefully, in its later sense, is now
regarded as quite acceptable, except, perhaps, in the most formal of contexts.
The arguments against the acceptance of hopefully in its more
recent meaning were not really convincing. Much was made of the possibility of
ambiguity occurring, especially when the adverb is placed immediately before
the verb, as in:

They will hopefully wait
for us although we’re going to be a bit late.

However, the hopefully in
the sentence above is much more likely to mean ‘it is to be hoped that’
and, if there are genuine possibilities of ambiguity, you can change its
position to the beginning of the sentence.

8. FORTUITOUS/FORTUNATE

Signs of change are
particularly likely to go unspotted for a while where the word affected is not
very commonly used. Fortuitous is such a word.
Originally, and in line with its derivation, fortuitous meant happening
by chance or accidental, as in:

She bumped into her old
friend in a completely fortuitous meeting. They hadn’t seen each other since
they were at school together.

Because the words sound
quite similar, ‘fortuitous‘  began to become confused with fortunate,
as in:

Meeting her father’s old
friend was fortuitous for her because he offered her a job in his company.

And in time, fortuitous began
to be used to describe an event that was not only accidental but also lucky.

9. DISINTERESTED/UNINTERESTED

Until very
recently, disinterested meant the same as impartial or unbiased. It was often confused
with uninterested, meaning ‘not having any interest in something’,
and now it has come to share this meaning.

This has been a gradual
change and many young people are not aware that the distinction between the
meanings of the two words ever existed.

This change has not been
universally welcomed by any means. Many people, especially older people, still
protest about it and claim that changes like this are spoiling what they see as
the purity of the English Language. This is often now referred to as ‘a dumbing
down’ of the language.

In fact, this particular
example of a language change is actually a reversion to the previous state of
affairs. According to historical dictionaries from the 17th century,
DISINTERESTED could mean the same as UNINTERESTED.

10. DISC/DISK

Something happened to the
word ‘disc’. When this was applied to computers in British English, it
became ‘disk‘, as in hard disk, in line with the American
spelling.

Other meanings retained
the disc spelling in British English, but that is beginning to
change as people get confused. The computer disk is the one we
are most likely to come across in the course of our daily routine, so we have
become used to this spelling.

We now tend to use it
outside the world of computers. For example, it is becoming quite usual for
people to write:

I have a slipped disk.

These words are liable to
cause confusion because of the influence of American English. In British
English, the correct spelling is disc, as in:

He is suffering from a
slipped disc, and his back is very sore.

Joseph Baidoo is a
Ghanaian and is popularly known on social media as Misty Joe.

English, like any living language, continues to grow, change, and evolve. New words are created, old words fall out of use, and existing words take on new meanings. Many common English words have very different meanings now than they did in older forms of English. Knowing these older meanings can make reading earlier English works considerably easier. Here are some commonly-used words whose meanings have changed drastically over time.

Apology

In modern English, an “apology” is a formal statement of regret. You might apologize when you can’t make an event or when you feel that you have wronged someone in some way. In the sixteenth century, however, an apology was a formal defense against an accusation. It came to English via French and Latin, which have words derived from the Greek word “apologia.” The original meaning survives in the form of “apologetics,” written works that defend a particular religious faith, doctrine, or belief.

Awful

Today, the word “awful” means terrible or horrific. It can also be used to emphasize the extent or severity of something. However, awful didn’t always have an entirely negative connotation. Originally, the word meant inspiring reverential wonder or fear. This makes sense if you consider how the word itself is structured. Awful literally meant “full of awe,” in the same way that successful and joyful mean “full of success” and “full of joy,” respectively, in modern English.

Fool

“Fool,” a derogatory term than means “stupid,” had a more nuanced meaning in the past than in does now. In Shakespeare’s time, a fool could also refer to a court jester. Several of his plays refer to a “fully licensed fool,” a professional performer appointed by the king whose job it was to behave in clownish and moronic manner at court. As part of the persona he was playing, a fool could get away with saying things critical of the king and court that virtually anyone else would be harshly punished for.

Fools in the sense that we mean them today also existed alongside professional fools in many of Shakespeare’s plays. These “natural fools” were often treated with a paradoxical combination of derision and reverence. Their disability and/or madness were thought to provide fools with insights and wisdom that were inaccessible to “sane” men. Fool was also occasionally used a term of endearment. In the play of the same name, King Lear refers to his daughter Cordelia as “my poor fool” upon learning that she has been killed.

Gay

Unlike the other words on this list, “gay” has changed meaning fairly recently. From the 1960s onwards, gay been considered the most widely-accepted term used to describe male homosexuals. The older use of gay, meaning carefree, bright, or showy, is rarely used today. While it is extremely difficult (not to mention insensitive) to try to use the traditional meaning of gay in contemporary conversation, this meaning appeared frequently in works of popular fiction well-through the mid-twentieth century.

Naughty

Naughty, which today means badly behaved rude, or indecent, is derived from the Old English would “naught.” This word means nothing, as in the sense of having nothing or being poor and needy. Naughty (with the added “y”) didn’t acquire its current usage until sometime in the late sixteenth century.

Nice

A “nice” person is one who is pleasant to be around. Yet, this seemingly innocuous compliment actually began as an insult. The Middle English equivalent of nice meant stupid or ignorant. A “nice” person at that time was someone who was unsophisticated and/or unaware of proper customs and manners.

Terrible

Like the word awful, “terrible” once had stronger and broader connotations than it does now. Literally meaning “causing terror or awe,” terrible was a title fit for the sixteenth century Russian Czar Ivan the Terrible, whose reign inspired widespread fear. “The Terror” was a period of the French Revolution marked by extreme bloodshed.  Terms such as “reign of terror” and “terrorist” have their origins in this time period, when the word terror had a far more severe meaning than simply very, very bad.

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The English language, while the most widely-spoken Germanic language, is also one of the most complex. Full of contradictions, synonyms, homophones, and idioms, it certainly takes some practice to pick up its context. It stands to reason that as words are commonly used out of their normal context, their meanings start to shift over time. Here are some commonly-used words whose meanings are completely different today than many years ago.

Nice

Centuries ago, the word “nice” was used to refer to someone ignorant (derived from the Latin word nescius. The meaning started to shift in the 1600s, with definitions including cowardly, lazy, sluggish, and even elegant. In the 16th century, the definition evolved again to mean “attentive or meticulous.” Finally, by the 18th century, “nice” settled on its modern-day definition of “agreeable or pleasant.”

Naughty

In the 1300s, the word “naughty” referred to someone who had nothing or naught. In the 17th century, the word was associated with the innocent misbehavior or mischief of children. Although that meaning is still commonly used, the word “naughty” has shifted even further to mean someone who is “promiscuous or provocative.”

Merry 

Today’s usage of the word “merry” is meant to convey a feeling of cheerfulness or joyousness. Originally, the word meant “short.” Centuries ago, it was synonymous with the word “brief,” in reference to something pleasant happening in a brief moment. Oddly enough, the old English word for short meant “sliced off,” so “merry” meant “short” as we know the meaning today.

Dinner

The modern-day meaning of “dinner” is one that nearly everyone can appreciate. It refers to an evening meal or the main meal of the day. The earliest meaning of the word came from the French word “disner” that referred to the Latin word for breakfast, disjejunare. The meaning naturally shifted in part, because breakfast used to be the main meal of the day or the meal in which the overnight “fast” was broken. In many English-speaking countries, dinner is now the largest meal of the day.

Awful

“Awful,” just like the word “awesome” is derived from the word “awe,” which refers to a feeling of terror or reverential fear. Prior to the 19th century, “awful” and “awesome” meant the same thing—a respectful fear of or wonderment about something. In the 19th century, the two synonyms parted ways, with “awful” assuming its modern meaning of something “bad.” Awesome has shape-shifted over the years to mean everything from “perfectly acceptable” to “amazing.”

Fine

“Fine” is one of the peculiar words in the English Language that means several different things, depending on the context. For example, it is used as a reply to the question “how are you?” as well as a noun meaning a “payment for an infraction.” In its origins, “fine” was derived from the French word “fin,” which means “end.” Today, the original meaning has shifted over time to mean something that is the “ultimate” or of the highest quality, indicating that the item has reached the highest end of the quality spectrum.

Bachelor

Long ago, young knights were called “bachelors.” They were still apprentice knights and the lowest rank in knighthood. As time went on, the word came to mean the lowest level of student or degree at a college or university and is still used to refer to Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. Its other common meaning of “an unmarried man” still holds true today and has been a well-known definition for centuries.

Flirt

A flirt, as is commonly understood today, is someone who toys with or teases someone in a romantic way. Over five centuries ago, “flirting” was making a quick or sudden movement with a fan to draw attention.

Meat

While “meat” generally refers to the flesh of an animal, generally for eating, it used to mean something else. Centuries ago, “meat” referred to anything that could be consumed but that wasn’t in the category of “drink.” To put it in modern terms: vegetables, fruits, cheese, and bread— all considered “meat.”

Guy

The word “guy” is an eponym—or a word that is named after a person, place or thing. It draws its original meaning from the name of Guy Fawkes, who tried (unsuccessfully) to blow up Parliament in the early 1600s. He was hated by the general public, so his name became a synonym for someone terrible or nefarious. It was a true insult. Today, the term refers to men in general—nefarious or not.

Clue

Years ago, a clue (also spelled “clew”) was a ball of yarn. The modern-day meaning of a hint or guide to help solve a puzzle may have come from the idea of unraveling a ball of yarn bit by bit, much as one would unravel a mystery clue by clue.

Fathom

A fathom used to be a measurement that was classed by encircling one’s arms around something. It is still related to a unit of nautical measurement for the depth of a body of water, but its more common meaning is to “fully understand after much thought.” The sea has always been a bit of a mystery, so perhaps the idea of measuring how many fathoms deep the sea may be is what spurred the idea of understanding the depths of a complicated subject or concept.

Fizzle

The word “fizzle” used to be a polite way to refer to the act of creating quiet flatulence. Over time, college students in the United States shifted the meaning to the act of failing at things.

Cute

Originally, the word “cute” was a shortened version of “acute” and referred to something or someone who was sharp or quick-witted. In the 1830s, Americans started using the word as a synonym for “pretty” or “attractive.” It also reflects a hint of its former meaning in phrases like “stop being cute” or “don’t play cute with me,” implying that someone is attempting to be sharp-witted at an inappropriate time.

Fantastic

Derived from the French word “fantastique,” the word “fantastic” used to convey something that wasn’t real—only contrived in imagination or fantasy. In the early 1930s, the word evolved a bit to include the now-common meaning of something “wonderful” or “exceptional.”

Literally

One of the most misused words in the English language, “literally” used to mean something that was “true” or “actually happening.” Today, it is used as a form of hyperbole, with phrases like “literally starving to death” when someone just needs a small snack or “literally raining cats and dogs” during a heavy downpour. Because the word has suffered so much misuse, the Oxford English Dictionary has amended its definition of it to include the hyperbolic version.

Nervous

“Nervous”  is derived from the Latin word nervosus, which means “sinewy or vigorous.” It used to refer specifically to someone who suffered from a nervous-system disorder and was under the care of a physician. Today, it describes anyone who is easily startled or experiencing a feeling of anxiety.

As society continues to take liberties with the English language (intentionally and by accident), it will be interesting to see how these, and other commonly-used words change form over the centuries to come.

It is inevitable that words change their meanings over time but it is still interesting to know the English words the meanings of which became very different from what they mean originally.

You might be surprised to know that the words you’ll find here are mostly words that you use regularly. It is a regular occurrence and the change of meaning could be narrowed or broadened. An example of this is the word ”hound.” Previously, a canine is traditionally called hound, while dog is used to indicate a canine that is fierce and big. The term ”dog” became the common term, which is broadening its meaning. The meaning of ”hound” became narrow as it now only refers to hunting dogs. Dogs of smaller breeds, especially, including Chihuahuas and toy dogs should never be called hounds.

Some of the narrowing and broadening of the meaning of words happened randomly. The question whether someone drinks refers to imbibing alcoholic drinks rather than all liquids. Previously, enjoying music means enjoying classical music, nothing else. When you say you enjoy reading today, it more or less means that the person is reading fiction instead of books on various subjects including history, science, nature and the like.

Intuitive and transformative shift

The changing of the meaning of words follows a mild transformative and intuitive direction. In the old days ”meat” referred to all items related to food, which is why ”candy” is called sweetmeat. Now meat solely pertain to flesh, which, while narrowed stayed within the sphere of food.

Some of the shift was lateral. Bird for example used to refer to a baby animal before it became the overall term for flying animals, which used to be called ”fugol.” The latter narrowed and changed to ”fowl” and now refers to birds raised in farms such as hens, geese, ducks and turkeys.

Distant shifts

The meanings of many English words today are very far from the original because of implications.

Audition

One of them is the word ”audition” that seems to have the root word that refers to ”audio.” Today, when you hear the term, what easily comes to mind is a person trying out for a film or play.

However, when ”audition” first came to be used, the word was used by doctors to mean that a patient’s hearing would be better once the ears are cleared of whatever is blocking the sound.

In 19th century England, the term for tryouts became ”hearings” because at that time trying out for plays means listening to a person reciting something, which writers turned into something fancier by using the word ”audition.”

The word stuck and used primarily to mean trying out for a performance while hearing became the term that refers to sound perception.

Commodity

Commodity now refers to staple products the quantity of which remains constant regardless of producers. The term is commonly used when referring to futures contracts that ensure uniformity in price even when the market fluctuates.

When the word was first used, it referred to comfort, for example, in accommodation, meaning indulging in personal comforts, such as enjoying the pleasure of staying in bed or spreading your body on a cozy sofa.

The current meaning is very distant for the original intent – from feeling comfortable to being products in the futures market, which is about financial contracts.

Fine

The word ”fine” came from the French word, ”fin” or end. Today, it has evolved to mean something that is ”the best,” ”the ultimate” or ”the top of the line.” Thus, initially fine, means either something of high quality or the end. The high quality meaning is what made it into the English language, which became associated with something delicate. It implies top quality as the item was produced with high precision.

However, there are other used for the word fine. When someone is asked how they are doing, the standard reply is he/she is fine. In this context, the word fine implies that the person is not hurt, is feeling great or in good health. The meaning extends to other things, such as the payment for a minor violation.

When you watch a French film, you are still likely see the word ”fin” at the end before the credits. But outside France, fine means something else.

Minority

The original meaning of the word ”minority” was a ”small portion” of something, which means that it was a technical term. However, today the word is generally used as a demographic term. When you say minority, the implication is that you refer to people of color. In the minds of many Americans, minority refers to Latino and Black people. So even if the Whites were outnumbered by Latinos or Blacks, they would never be referred to as minority because they do not have dark complexions.

Merry

Merry is a word the original meaning of which is very different from how it is used today. In the past, ”merry” meant ”short.” It is because something short or brief is pleasant. Now merry means joy, gaiety, full of merriment, fun, lively and so on. The English language already had a word ”short” in the early days, however, it meant ”sliced off.”

Merry had a long past as well. It started from the steppes in Ukraine where most of the languages in Europe originated. Merry came from the word ”mregh” that became ”brakhion” in Greece. It was a term used for the upper arm, as physically, the lower arm is longer than the upper arm. Brakhion entered the Latin language as ‘brakh” but ended as a pastry term, as in brachitella or bread that resembles folded arms. Old German adopted the term as brezitella that morphed into brezel in Middle High German, which is now known as pretzel.

In the French language, brach referred to shoulder straps that extended to mean the chemise worn by children. Brach evolved into brassiere which was shortened to ”bra.”

In a sense, pretzel and bra are the same as merry, although the evolution that happened gradually means that it would be impossible today to use the three words in a sentence that would make sense.

Awful and awesome

Both words came from ”awe,” which is an Old English word that originally meant dread, terror or fear. When used to refer to God, it meant respectful or reverential fear. Awesome and awful used to be synonyms, but in the 19th century however, awful became a term that is synonymous to the emotion’s negative aspect thus it usually refers to something very bad or something frightful. Awesome on the other hand became the term used to mean mind-boggling, stunning or marvelous, which were cited initially in a 1980 publication called Official Preppy Handbook.

Opposite meaning

The meaning of words will continue to change as long as there are speakers of the language. Some of the meanings shift to become the opposite of the original while some become complimentary or otherwise.

Nice

From the Anglo-Norman language to classical Latin to English, the word ”nice” used to refer to someone ”ignorant” from the Latin word ”nescius.” Starting from the 1300s up to the 1600s the meaning was the same – ignorant, foolish or silly. But during the same period, nice took on different meanings, from being dissolute, wanton, cowardly, effeminate, lazy, intricate, sluggish, refined to elegant.

In the 16th century the meanings changed to sharp, attentive, meticulous. When the 18th century arrived, the meanings lost much of its prestige; it gained the meaning we use today, such as pleasant or agreeable.

Dinner

Dinner started from the French word ”disner” that originated from the Latin term, ”disjejunare” or breaking the fast. Thus it originally referred to the first meal you have for the day. Through the evolution of the word, it was used to refer to the day’s main meal, which is still used in some circles. For the fashionable and professional classes today, as mentioned in the Oxford English Dictionary, dinner now refers to the largest meal taken in the evening. The last meal served during the day is called supper, which is seldom used today. The current meaning is a light meal in the early evening if you had dinner in the middle of the day. You could also have supper before you go to bed.

Naughty

Naughty people in the 1300s were those who had naught or nothing. It meant they were either needy or poor. A millennium later, the meaning shifted to someone morally wicked or bad or someone who was worth nothing. So the meaning changed from having nothing to someone sexually provocative, promiscuous or licentious. But in the late 17th century other meanings were added to naughty. These are gentler terms, often used to refer to children who display misbehavior, disobedience or mischievousness.

Several more English words have changed meanings. Silly for example used to mean blessed or worthy before the meanings became vulnerable or weak. Today, it is mainly used to refer to someone foolish. Some are more difficult to comprehend, such as clue coming from the word ”clew” meaning a ball of yarn to being important pieces of evidence. Fathom used to mean, ”to encircle with your arm” whereas today it means understanding something after spending time to think about it.

It does not matter if the meanings of many English words continue to change. The human translators of Day Translations, Inc. will always use the most applicable words to accurately translate your documents. They are all native speakers and located around the world to serve your translation requirements quickly and efficiently. We serve clients 24/7, 365 days a year. So contact us for translation services anytime by calling us at 1-800-969-6853 or sending us an email at Contact us.

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