Etymology

disinterest

D2I1S1I1N1T1E1R1E1S1T1

Today it means: An absence of interest (attention or curiosity). Full definition →

First used 19th c.English interest ← Middle English dis- ← Latin dis-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latindis-
  2. Old Frenchdes-
  3. Latindis-
  4. Middle Englishdis-
  5. Englishdis-
  6. Englishinterest
  7. English todaydisinterest

From dis- + interest.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 19th c. An absence of interest (attention or curiosity).
  • from 17th c. The absence of interest (bias or stake).
  • 17th–19th c. What is contrary to interest or advantage.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.