entry
boycott
/ˈbɔɪkɒt/Refuse dealings as organized protest
From English Boycott (eponymic surname from a place name).
Word Ancestry
A land dispute in County Mayo turned one man’s surname into a global verb. In 1880, Captain Charles C. Boycott, an estate agent who refused to lower rents for Irish tenant farmers, found himself cut off so completely that his name became a political tactic. Newspapers grabbed it fast, and the word sprinted across languages — even into Japanese as boikotto. This is one of those glorious language accidents where a person’s name stops being a name and starts meaning the whole social act of refusing to play along. A boycott is basically history turning a proper noun into a form of organized silence.
The Story
A land dispute in County Mayo turned one man’s surname into a global verb. In 1880, Captain Charles C. Boycott, an estate agent who refused to lower rents for Irish tenant farmers, found himself cut off so completely that his name became a political tactic. Newspapers grabbed it fast, and the word sprinted across languages — even into Japanese as boikotto. This is one of those glorious language accidents where a person’s name stops being a name and starts meaning the whole social act of refusing to play along. A boycott is basically history turning a proper noun into a form of organized silence.
Modern Usage
Informal shorthand for refusing to support a person, brand, or event
Popularized by: social media campaigns and activist communities
Notable References
- Irish Land League boycott of Charles Boycott
- news coverage since 1880
Kin & Kindred
From 'Boycott'·eponymic surname from a place name
Derived Terms
English words from this root