mad | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

115 entries found.

"mad, crazy, stupid," 1892, from Hebrew meshugga, participle of shagag "to go astray, wander." The adjective has forms meshugener, meshugenah before a noun.

demented (adj.)

"having lost the normal use of reason, afflicted with dementia," 1640s, from obsolete dement "drive mad." Related: Dementedness.

erotomaniac (n.)

"one driven mad by passionate love" (sometimes also used in the sense of "nymphomaniac"), 1858, from erotomania.

witless (adj.)

Old English witleas "foolish, mad;" see wit (n.) + -less. Phrase scared witless attested from 1975. Related: Witlessly; witlessness.

estrus (n.)

1850, "frenzied passion," from Latin oestrus "frenzy, gadfly," from Greek oistros "gadfly; breeze; sting; anything which makes one mad, mad impulse," perhaps from a PIE *eis- (1), forming words denoting passion (see ire). First attested 1890 with specific meaning "rut in animals, sexual heat." Earliest use in English (1690s) was for "a gadfly." Related: Estrous (1900).

plutomania (n.)

1650s, "mad pursuit of wealth," from Greek ploutos "wealth" (see Pluto) + mania. As a form of insanity, "imaginary possession of wealth," from 1894. Related: Plutomaniac.

amentia (n.)

"mental deficiency," late 14c., from Latin amentia "madness," from amentem "mad," from a for ab "away from" (see a- (2)) + mentem "mind" (from PIE root *men- (1) "to think") + abstract noun ending -ia.

dippy (adj.)

"mad, insane, crazy," especially in love, 1903, perhaps from dip + -y (2), but the exact signification is unclear. Another theory connects it with dipsomania.

ament (n.)

"person born an idiot," 1894, from Latin amentia "madness," from amentem "mad," from a for ab "away from" (see a- (2)) + mentem "mind," from PIE root *men- (1) "to think."

morphinomania (n.)

"mad craving for morphine," 1885; see morphine + mania. Other words in the same sense were morphinism (1875, after German Morphiumsucht); morphiomania (1876). Related: Morphinomaniac; morphiomaniac.

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