English
horror
Horror comes from Old French horror ‘horror or terror’, and goes back to Latin horreō ‘to bristle, shake, be terrified’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhorreōas horrere‘to bristle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhorror‘a bristling’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400same form‘horror or terror’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500horer
- Englishearliest quotation 1712horror
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhorreōas horrere‘to bristle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhorror‘a bristling’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400same form‘horror or terror’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500horer
- Englishearliest quotation 1712horror
Earliest quotation: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: A tragedy: “Their swarthy Hosts wou'd darken all our Plains, /…”
Linked words
through Latin horreō ‘to bristle, shake, be terrified’
horrific, horrendous, horrid, abhorrent, abhor, horrify, 4 more
Today it means
noun An intense distressing emotion of fear or repugnance.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin horreō / horror