soothe

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To make someone feel calmer and less worried or upset.

   She sang softly to soothe the crying baby.

2. 2
   verb

   To make a pain or unpleasant feeling less strong.

   The medicine soothes the pain of the inflammation.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Soothe originally meant “show or prove to be true” in Old English and is based on the old word sooth, “truth.” In the 16th century it came to mean supporting or flattering someone by agreeing with them, which led by the late 17th century to the modern sense “calm, comfort, or placate.”

From Middle English sothen (“to verify, prove the validity of”), from Old English sōþian (“to verify, prove, confirm, bear witness to”), from Proto-West Germanic *sanþōn, from Proto-Germanic *sanþōną (“to prove, certify, acknowledge, testify”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”). Cognate with Danish sande (“to verify”), Swedish sanna (“to verify”), Icelandic sanna (“to verify”). See also sooth. Displaced native Old English frēfran, ġefrēfran (“to comfort, console, soothe”), and partially displaced native Old English stillan, ġestillan (“to calm, become calm, pacify, quieten”) (whence mo…

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