Words That Changed Meaning

From Latin nescius, “not knowing”. It drifted through “shy”, “fussy” and “precise” before reaching “pleasant” in the 1700s.

Old English sælig meant “blessed”. It slid to “innocent”, then “pitiable”, then “simple” — and finally “foolish”.

Once used of God and majestic sights, “awful” weakened over centuries into a word for anything unpleasant.

From Latin terrificus, “frightening”. By the late 1800s it meant “very great”, and soon after “wonderful”.

In Middle English a “gyrle” could be a boy or a girl; boys were sometimes called “knave girls”.

Old English mete meant any food — which is why “sweetmeats” are sweets, and a nut still has “meat” inside.

A naughty person had “naught”, nothing. The sense moved to “wicked” and later softened to childish mischief.

Probably from Dutch boel, “lover”. It shifted to “fine fellow”, then “blusterer”, and then to someone who harasses the weak.

Latin e grege, “out of the flock” — standing out from the crowd. Sarcastic use flipped it to “shockingly bad”.

A Roman army punishment for mutiny: one soldier in ten was chosen by lot and executed.

Old English sæd meant “sated, having had enough”. From “weary of something” it came to mean “sorrowful”.

Old English prættig meant “tricky, sly”. It passed through “clever” and “skilful” before settling on “attractive”.

Old English dēor meant any beast — compare German Tier, “animal”. Shakespeare still wrote of “rats and mice and such small deer”.

Old English gebed meant “prayer”. Because prayers were counted on rosary beads, the word moved to the beads themselves.

Farmers “broadcast” seed widely across a field. Radio borrowed the image in the 1920s for sending signals in all directions.

For three centuries a computer was a human doing arithmetic — often for astronomy or navigation tables.

Spinning was common work for unmarried women, so the job title became a legal term for any unmarried woman.

From Greek phantastikos, “able to imagine”. Only in the 20th century did it become an everyday word of praise.