noun
disaster
An event causing severe damage, loss, or failure.
Where it comes from
Disaster ordinarily means an event causing severe damage, loss, or failure. English borrowed disaster through French from Italian disastro. The Italian form joins dis-, expressing an unfavorable condition, with astro, star, from Latin astrum and ultimately Greek astron. The formation reflects an astrological world in which an unfavorable star or planetary configuration could portend calamity.
How the meaning developed
The word outlived that belief and came to mean the calamity itself.
Sources
Definitions adapted from Open English WordNet where applicable. License and attribution. Word-history text comes from Lexifour’s sourced social research; pages are assembled automatically, not individually fact-checked on every update.
Updated 2026-10-05. Report a correction.