Meet Cute Queen

Disheveled means “marked by disorder” or “being in loose disarray.” Given this meaning, one might assume that the ­dis- in disheveled is the same prefix found in disorder and disarray. In Modern English, dis- carries a number of related meanings, including “not” as in dissimilar; “absence of,” as in disinterest; and “opposite of,” as in disfavor. In all of these cases, it’s applied before an existing word, meaning that if you know what interest is you can figure out what disinterest means, and so forth. But what, you might ask, does it mean to be heveled?

In Modern English, the answer is nothing. While ultimately the dis- in disheveled can be traced through Old French des- and back to the Latin prefix dis-, meaning “apart, asunder,” that gave rise to the English prefix found in words like disorder and disarray, disheveled came into English from the Middle English discheveled. Then, it meant specifically “having no hat or headdress on, and therefore (since a hat or headdress kept the hair in place) having one’s hair in disorder.” The Middle English word in turn comes from Old French deschevele, “having one’s hair in disorder,” which is in fact the past participle of the verb descheveler. This Old French verb was created by adding the prefix des-, “apart, away, with the opposite effect,” to the noun chevel, “hair.” (Readers who know Modern French will recognize chevel as the ancestor of Modern French cheveu, “hair.”) Descheveler thus literally meant “to do apart the hair, undo one’s hairdo.” And so the shevel in dishevel simply comes from the Old French word for “hair.” In Modern English, of course, more than hair can be disheveled.

This discussion of disheveled can be found alongside discussions of 99 other words in 100 Words to Make You Sound Smart, which was recently re-released with a brand new cover!

Spin the wheel again. That’s who’s trying to protect you.

(If you have zero idea about a name you got, spin until you see someone you recognize.)

SHEILA ATIM as Akasha

THE VAMPIRE LESTAT 3.05 | THE LITTLE MERMAID (1989)