horrent (English)

Where does "horrent" come from?

The English adjective 'horrent' entered the language from the Latin 'horrens'[1], which is the present participle of the verb 'horrere', meaning 'to bristle'[1][2]. This Latin root is also the source of the English word 'horror'[1]. Over time, the term preserved its classical sense of standing upright like bristles or being bristled.

Full etymology tree

• horrent (English), 'Standing upright, like bristles; bristled; bristly.'
  • borrowed horrens (Latin), 'trembling'
    • derived horrere (Latin), 'present active infinitive of horreō'
      • derived horreo (Latin), 'to stand erect, stand on end'

Sources

1. horrent (English) - Wiktionary
2. horrens (Latin) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris