Misery
/ˈmɪz.ə.ri/noun
Great suffering or distress.
Did you know?Misery entered English through Old French from Latin *miseria*, built on *miser* meaning “wretched” or “unhappy,” a root that also gave us *miser*—someone so bound to loss that even language marks them as cursed.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*mei-
“to change, exchange; possibly to alter one's state”
Latin
Latin
miser
“wretched, unhappy, pitiable”
Latin
Latin
miseria
“wretchedness, distress, misery”
Old French
Old French
misere
“wretchedness, hardship, misery”
Middle English
English
miserie
“wretchedness, suffering, misery”
Modern English
English
misery
“great suffering or distress”
Explore more surprising origins