Take umbrage means to take offense, irritation, or annoyance at something. Umbrage traces back to Latin umbra, “shadow,” and earlier English used it for literal shade, the kind found under orchard trees. It’s a cousin of umbrella. The figurative sense developed from shadow to suspicion, as if a remark had cast shade or hinted at a slight. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of ““Take Umbrage” Means to Take Offense or Feel Annoyed”
A few weeks ago on the show, one of us said something about you shouldn’t take umbrage at this or that.
And we had a call from a listener named Anushka here in California who wanted to know what that meant, to take umbrage at something.
And I thought it was a good question because it’s something that I’ve had to look up again and again to get the exact meaning of.
But to take umbrage means to take offense at something, to be annoyed by something, to be irritated by something.
And I started remembering it when I realized the Latin source of the word.
It comes from the Latin umbra, which means shadow.
And early on, the term umbrage meant shade, like the umbrage you would find in an orchard.
And it’s a relative of the word for that thing that you take to the beach to give yourself a little shade, the umbrella.
And eventually, taking umbrage meant to sense a kind of shadowiness or suspicion.
To cast a shadow on something.
Yeah, something shady.
That makes sense.
So to take umbrage.
I might have guessed the umbrella connection, but I might not have put it all together.
Yeah, it’s cool stuff, right?
Mm—
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