mayhem
/ˈmeɪˌ(h)ɛm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.45 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The criminal offence of maiming (“seriously wounding”) a person such that their ability to defend or protect themselves is weakened or completely removed; (countable) an instance of this.
British usage; Uncountable
noun
The criminal offence of maiming a person by depriving them of the use of any of their limbs.
American usage; Uncountable
noun
Often preceded by to cause or make: great confusion, destruction, disorder, or trouble; chaos, turmoil; (countable) an instance of this.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "to commit mayhem"
- "A man's limbs, (by vvhich for the preſent vve only underſtand thoſe members vvhich may be uſeful to him in fight, and the loſs of vvhich only amounts to mayhem by the common lavv) are alſo the gift of the vviſe creator; to enable man to protect himſelf from external injuries in a ſtate of nature. […] [W]hatever is done by a man, to ſave either life or member, is looked upon as done upon the higheſt neceſſity and compulſion. Therefore if a man through fear of death or mayhem is prevailed upon to execute a deed, or do any other legal act; theſe, though accompanied vvith all other the requiſite ſolemnities, are totally void in lavv, […]"
- "There is a story told of a case where a notorious character was charged with the unusual crime of "mayhem"—biting off another man's finger. The defendant's counsel secured adjournment after adjournment—no one knew why. […] He [the defendant] had not a tooth in his head. The delay had been advantageously employed."
- "In all the mayhem, some children were separated from their parents."
- "What if the legendary hero Robin Hood had been born into the mayhem of the 20th century?"
- "We terrified the mare and foal. / The fox stood still and far too bold. / So we strung him up, brush neatly folded— / Mayhem, maybe."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Late Middle English mayehem, maihem, a late form of maym, maim (“disfigurement, injury, mutilation; disfigured person”) (whence modern English maim (noun)), from Anglo-Norman mahaim, mahainne (“mutilation”), and Old French mehaing, meshaing (“bodily harm, loss of limb”). The verb is partly: * from Late Middle English mahaym, maheyme, a late form of maimen, maymen (“to injure seriously, mutilate, maim; to damage; to destroy; to afflict with disease; to dispossess”) (whence modern English maim (verb)), from Anglo-Norman mahaigner, mahimer, Middle French mehaignier, and Old French mehaingner, meshaignier (“to destroy; to harm; to injure, maim”); and * from the modern English noun. The etymology of the Old French words is uncertain; they are possibly from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to damage; to hurt; to change; to exchange”) (compare Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (maidjan, “to alter, falsify”); Middle High German meidem, meiden (“gelding”); Old Norse meiða (“to injure”)), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change; to exchange; etc.”), possibly from *mey- (“to change; to exchange”). If so, the English word is a doublet of mad.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *mey-, mayehem, mahaim, mehaing, mahaym, mahaigner
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmeɪˌ(h)ɛm/
- British English: /ˈmeɪhɛm/
Usage
- British usage
- Uncountable
- American usage
- Archaic
- Transitive verb