Hate — definition, etymology, and first known use
Places inherited hate before the younger compound.
Hate first-known-use and etymology sections- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
PERMANENT DISPUTE RECORD
ALL DISPUTES ↗One scholarly question. Every attached source. The present editorial state, without pretending the last word has been written.
No. Hate is inherited from Old English noun and verb material; hatred is a Middle English formation first reported in the 13th century. Its suffix names a condition rather than linguistic originality.
/heɪt/ · noun · verb
An inherited Germanic hostility word whose English noun and verb histories converge imperfectly: Old English preserves both hete and hatian, Middle English may have remodeled the noun from the verb, and the proposed deeper Indo-European family remains semantically opaque.
DIRECT CLAIM EVIDENCE
A citation is not a vote. Each record says whether the work supports, challenges, contradicts, or contextualizes the position—and identifies the exact locus used.
Places inherited hate before the younger compound.
Hate first-known-use and etymology sectionsDocuments the younger Middle English formation.
Hatred etymology and 13th-century first known usePlaces hatred inside a declining construction.
pp. 96–97: hatred as an X-RÆDEN relicThe rabbit hole connects the two dossiers while keeping their distinct formation histories.