plain-hearted | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

173 entries found.

c. 1300, plainnes, "flatness, level ground, flat surface;" late 14c., "smoothness, evenness," from plain (adj.) + -ness. Meaning "clarity, lucidity" is from mid-15c.; that of "open conduct" is from 1540s; that of "absence of ornament" is from 1580s.

faint (v.)

c. 1300, "grow weak, become enfeebled," also "lack courage or spirit, be faint-hearted," and "to pretend, feign;" from faint (adj.). Sense of "swoon, lose consciousness" is from c. 1400. Also used in Middle English of the fading of colors, flowers, etc. Related: Fainted; fainting. For Chaucer and Shakespeare, also a transitive verb ("It faints me").

immobile (adj.)

mid-14c., originally of property; by c. 1400 "steadfast, unmovable" (of faith, etc.), from Old French immoble "immovable, fixed, motionless" (13c., Modern French immeuble), from Latin immobilis "immovable" (also, figuratively, "hard-hearted"), from assimilated form of in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + mobilis (see mobile (adj.)). Related: Immobilism "policy of extreme conservatism" (1853).

homely (adj.)

late 14c., "of or belonging to home or household, domestic," from Middle English hom "home" (see home (n.)) + -ly (1). Sense of "plain, unadorned, simple" (as domestic scenes often were) is late 14c., and extension to "having a plain appearance, without particular beauty of features, crude" took place c. 1400, but survived chiefly in U.S., especially in New England, where it was the usual term for "physically unattractive;" ugly meaning typically "ill-tempered." In the old sense of "domestic, of or pertaining to domestic life," homish (1560s) and homelike (1789) have been used.

mood (n.2)

"grammatical form indicating the function of a verb," 1570s, an alteration of mode (n.1). The grammatical and musical (1590s) usages of it influenced the meaning of mood (n.1) in such phrases as light-hearted mood, but it is worth remembering that the two moods have no etymological relationship. Also used in traditional logic (1560s) as a variant of mode.

Planaria (n.)

flat worm-like animal, 1819, from Modern Latin (1776) noun use of fem. of Late Latin planarius, literally "on level ground" (here used to mean "flat"), from Latin planum, planus "flat, level, even, plain" (from PIE root *pele- (2) "flat; to spread"). Related: Planarian.

litotes (n.)

rhetorical figure in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary ("no laughing matter"), from Greek litotes "plainness, simplicity," from litos "smooth, plain," also "frugal, small, meager," and, of style, "simple, unadorned," from PIE root *(s)lei- "slimy, sticky, slippery" (hence "smooth"); see slime (n.).

recreant (n.)

"one who yields in combat, one who begs for mercy, one who admits defeat," early 15c., hence "coward, faint-hearted wretch;" from recreant (adj.) and from Old French recreant as a noun, "one who acknowledges defeat, a craven, coward, renegade, traitor, wretch." In English, the sense of "apostate, deserter, villain" is from 1560s.

simplex (adj.)

"characterized by a single part," 1590s, from Latin simplex "single, simple, plain, unmixed, uncompounded," literally "onefold," from PIE compound of root *sem- (1) "one; as one, together with" + *plac- "-fold," from PIE root *plek- "to plait." The noun is attested from 1892, "simple uncompounded word."

remonstrate (v.)

1590s, "make plain, show clearly," a sense now obsolete, a back-formation from remonstration, or else from Medieval Latin remonstratus, past participle of remonstrare "to demonstrate" (see remonstrance). Meaning "to exhibit or present strong reasons against" an act, measure, etc. is from 1690s. Related: Remonstrated; remonstrating.

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