demure

English

WOTD – 12 January 2009

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English demure, demwre, an abbreviation of Anglo-Norman de mure port (“with a mature demeanor”) (compare Old French meur from Latin mātūrus):

• si il seyt coy e de mure port (Amur curteiz) (“he sits quietly and with a mature appearance”)
• Documents illustrating the history of Scotland, CLV, 1306, Orders for the custody of Scottish prisoners, CLV: …et que eles soient de bon et meur port (“…with a good and mature demeanor”)
• mss. Arundel, 220: ke cely qe vus amerez soyt de gentil manere, coy, de meure porture (“with a mature demeanor”)
• (Monastic rule): de aunciene dame de meure porture ke pusse les plus ieuenes rieueler e endoctriner (“an old lady with a mature demeanor able to rule and educate the young girls”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
• (Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /dəˈmjɔː(ɹ)/, /dɪˈmjɵː(ɹ)/, /dɪˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
• (US, General American) IPA^(key): /dɪˈmjʊɹ/, /dɪˈmjɔɹ/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /dəˈmjʊə(ɹ)/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /dəˈmjʉə(ɹ)/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ʊə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: de‧mure

Adjective

demure (comparative demurer, superlative demurest)

1. (chiefly of a woman) Modest, quiet, reserved, or serious.

   Synonyms: retiring, shy, sober

   She is a demure young lady.

   • 1881, William Black, The Beautiful Wretch:

     Nan was very much delighted in her demure way, and that delight showed itself in her face and in her clear bright eyes.

   • 2005, Maureen Dowd, Are Men Necessary?, →ISBN, page 311:

     I was coming back from the ladies' room when I saw her. She looked demure. Oval wire-rimmed glasses. A sky blue jacket buttoned over a long black-and-white flowered shirt.

   • 2014 January 21, Hermione Hoby, “Julia Roberts interview for August: Osage County – 'I might actually go to hell for this …'”, in The Daily Telegraph‎^[1]:

     [H]owever hard she pushed the tough-talkin' shtick, she remained doe-eyed, glowing and somehow unassailably demure.

   • 2021 June 30, Motoko Rich, Hikari Hida, “Expected to Be Demure, Japan’s Girls Face Steep Hurdles to Athletic Dreams”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     And in their daily lives, girls and women are pushed to conform to fairly narrow templates of behavior as demure or delicate.

2. Affectedly modest, decorous, or serious; making a show of gravity.

   Synonym: coy

   • c. 1824, Mary Russell Mitford, Walks in the Country:

     Miss Lizzy, I have no doubt, would be as demure and coquettish, as if ten winters more had gone over her head.

Usage notes

• Usage of the term "demure" spiked in 2024 after the catchphrase "very demure, very mindful" went viral on TikTok.

Derived terms

• as demure as a whore at a christening
• demurely
• demureness
• demurity
• undemure

 

Translations

modest, quiet, reserved

• Armenian: համեստ (hy) (hamest), լուրջ (hy) (lurǰ), ծանրաբարո (hy) (canrabaro)
• Bulgarian: сериозен (bg) (seriozen), скромен (bg) (skromen)
• Catalan: modest (ca), modesta f, pudorós m, pudorosa f, púdic m, púdica f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嫻靜／娴静 (zh) (xiánjìng)

• Czech: ostýchavý m, zdrženlivý, plachý (cs), upejpavý (cs), stydlivý, skromný (cs)
• Danish: ærbar, dydig, knibsk
• Dutch: bescheiden (nl), beschaafd (nl), keurig (nl), netjes (nl)
• Estonian: tagasihoidlik
• Finnish: kaino (fi)
• French: réservé (fr), discret (fr), sobre (fr), sérieux (fr)
• Georgian: თავმდაბალი (tavmdabali)
• German: zurückhaltend (de), ernst (de), sittsam (de) (dated)
• Greek: χαμηλοθώρης (el) m (chamilothóris), χαμηλοβλεπούσα (el) f (chamilovlepoúsa)
• Hungarian: tartózkodó (hu), visszafogott (hu), diszkrét (hu), komoly (hu), szolid (hu), decens (hu)
• Ingrian: häpelikäs
• Irish: stuama
• Italian: pudico (it) m, riservato (it) m
• Kazakh: сыпайы (sypaiy), сабырлы (sabyrly), ұстамды (ūstamdy)
• Korean: 얌전하다 (yamjeonhada), 조용하다 (ko) (joyonghada)
• Maori: whakamōwai, tōngā
• Middle English: demure, mure
• Portuguese: modesto (pt) m, reservado (pt) m
• Russian: скро́мный (ru) (skrómnyj) (modest), серьёзный (ru) (serʹjóznyj) (serious), сде́ржанный (ru) (sdéržannyj) (reserved), ти́хий (ru) (tíxij) (quiet)
• Scottish Gaelic: stuama
• Sicilian: risarbatu m, spirtuni m, maturu (scn) m
• Spanish: modesto (es), reservado (es), recatado (es), modoso (es), discreto (es)

Verb

demure (third-person singular simple present demures, present participle demuring, simple past and past participle demured)

1. (obsolete) To look demurely.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene xvi], page 363, column 2, line 30:

     Your Wife Octavia, with her modeſt eyes, / […] ſhall acquire no Honour / Demuring vpon me:

Further reading

• “demure”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “demure, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From de- +‎ mure.

Alternative forms

• demewre, demeur, demuer, demur, demwre, dimuir

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛːˈmiu̯r/

Adjective

demure

1. grave, serious, modest

Derived terms

• demurely

Descendants

• English: demure
• Scots: demure

References

• “dēmūr, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

From Old French demore, demure.

Alternative forms

• demere, demoere, demore

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɛːˈmeːr/, /dɛːˈmiu̯r/, /dɛːˈmur/

Noun

demure

1. (rare) delay, waiting, stay

Related terms

• demuren

Descendants

• English: demur

References

• “dēmū̆re, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 3

Verb

demure

1. Alternative form of demuren