Whether it’s due to new technology that demands new terminology, or younger generations inventing and repurposing slang, words and their definitions change over time. Sometimes a word gains a different usage in slang or casual conversation, and the updated context gets picked up in print, and soon a new definition appears in the dictionary. Ask a lexicographer, and they’ll tell you that the definition of a word is only accurate if that’s the way people are using it. Let’s take a look at some words that have been through a veritable roller coaster of meanings throughout the centuries.
In the 14th century, the original meaning of “fantastic” was “only existing in the imagination,” as if in a fantasy. It took on its more general, superlative meaning — “wonderful or very good” — in the 1930s. After the fantasy of the Roaring ’20s crashed into the Great Depression, maybe it was time to get back down to earth.
There was once a time when vegetarians could eat meat for every meal. Although it’s unlikely there were many vegetarians by choice back then, the Middle English definition of “meat” was simply “food, nourishment, or animal feed.” This included carrots, potatoes, and anything else on the menu. It wasn’t until the 1300s that the word started to refer to the flesh of animals eaten as food.
As one of the most infamously abused words in the English language, “literally” is the bane of many grammar sticklers. Yes, one definition in use since the 1530s is “in accordance with the exact meaning of the words used.” But for over 300 years, the word has been squeezed and squished into so many dubious contexts that the Oxford English Dictionary literally added “used for emphasis while not being literally true” to the list of definitions.
“Myriad” used to be a word that specified the number 10,000. This came from the Greek myrias, meaning the same thing. However, the word always had connotations with “a number too large to be counted,” as 10,000 was the largest number the Greeks could express in a single word. Now we simply say “ten thousand,” and “myriad” means “a countless or extremely great number.”
“Egregious” comes from the Latin egregius, meaning “illustrious,” which was used to mean “standing out from the flock.” In the 1500s, the English word was used to mean “excellent or distinguished,” yet by the 1600s, “egregious” was being used sarcastically to mean “outstandingly bad or shocking.” This widespread use of the word is what ultimately stuck, and “egregious” has been forever tarnished since.
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