Irregardless
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Irregardless is a word sometimes used in place of regardless or irrespective, which has caused controversy since the early twentieth century, though the word appeared in print as early as 1795.[1] The word is mostly known for being controversial and often proscribed, and is often mentioned in discussions on prescriptive and descriptive lexicography.
The origin of irregardless is unknown, but speculation among dictionary references suggests it is a blend, or portmanteau word, of the standard English words irrespective and regardless.[2][3][4][5][6] The blend creates a word with a meaning not predictable from the meanings of its constituent morphemes. Since the prefix ir- means "not" (as it does with irrespective), and the suffix -less means "without", the word contains a double negative. The word irregardless could therefore be expected to have the meaning "in regard to", thus being the opposite of regardless. In reality, irregardless is used as a synonym of regardless.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), irregardless was first acknowledged in 1912 by the Wentworth American Dialect Dictionary as originating from western Indiana,[7] though the word was in use in South Carolina before Indiana became a territory.[1] The usage dispute over irregardless was such that in 1923 Literary Digest published an article titled "Is There Such a Word as Irregardless in the English Language?" The OED goes on to explain the word is primarily a North American colloquialism.[7]