mad

mad · adjective, adverb¹

1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
3. Proto-Germanic*ga-
4. Proto-West Germanic*ga-
5. Old Englishġe-
6. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
7. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
8. Proto-Indo-European*moyth₂-éye-ti
9. Proto-Germanic*maidijaną
10. Old English*mǣdan
11. Old Englishġemǣdan, ġemǣded
12. Middle Englishmad
13. English todaymad

From Middle English mad, madde, madd, medd, from Old English ġemǣd, ġemǣded (“enraged”), past participle of ġemǣdan, *mǣdan (“to make insane or foolish”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to change; damage; cripple; injure; make mad”), from Proto-Germanic *maidaz ("weak; crippled"; compare Old English gemād (“silly, mad”), Old High German gimeit (“foolish, crazy”), literary German gemeit (“mad, insane”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (gamaiþs, “crippled”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ("to change"; compare Old Irish máel (“bald, dull”), Old Lithuanian ap-maitinti (“to wound”), Sanskrit मेथति (méthati, “he hurts, comes to blows”)).

mad · verb²

1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
3. Proto-Germanic*ga-
4. Proto-West Germanic*ga-
5. Old Englishġe-
6. Proto-Indo-European*mey-?
7. Proto-Indo-European*meyth₂-
8. Proto-Indo-European*moyth₂-éye-ti
9. Proto-Germanic*maidijaną
10. Old English*mǣdan
11. Old Englishġemǣdan, ġemǣded
12. Middle Englishmad
13. Middle Englishmadden
14. English todaymad

Inherited from Middle English madden. Compare Old English ġemǣdan.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• 14th–19th c. To be or become mad.
• from 15th c. To madden, to anger, to frustrate.