# Annus horribilis
**Annus horribilis** is a Latin phrase meaning "horrible year", used in English for a year of misfortune or disaster. It entered wide circulation after Queen Elizabeth II applied it to 1992, a year of royal separations, divorce, and a serious fire at [Windsor Castle](https://www.edgepedia.org/windsor-castle), and it is now a standard formal idiom in journalism and public speech.[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis) • [2](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Meaning | "Horrible year"; a year of misfortune or disaster[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis) |
| Origin | 20th-century coinage from Latin, modeled on *annus mirabilis*; made famous by Elizabeth II of the year 1992[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis) |
| Famous use | Speech at a Corporation of London Guildhall lunch, 24 November 1992, marking 40 years of her reign[3](https://time.com/6227232/annus-horribilis-divorce-the-crown/) |
| 1992 events | Fire at Windsor Castle; separations of Prince Andrew and Prince Charles; divorce of Princess Anne[4](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/annus-horribilis) |
| Model phrase | *Annus mirabilis*, "wonderful year", Dryden's 1667 title referring to 1666[5](https://www.etymonline.com/word/annus%20mirabilis) |
| Plural | *Anni horribiles*[6](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/annus_horribilis) |
## Meaning and grammar
Dictionaries define the phrase as "a terrible year" or "a year of extremely bad events", and mark it as formal.[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis) • [2](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis) It is a Latin loan phrase, from *annus* ("year") plus *horribilis* ("of horrors"), and is often italicized in print; the Latin plural is *anni horribiles*.[6](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/annus_horribilis) In use it typically attaches to a person, institution, industry, or country rather than to the year in general, as in press examples about memory-chip manufacturers, gold investors, the commodities sector, or the cryptocurrency world.[1](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis) • [7](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis?q=annus)
## Origin and the model of annus mirabilis
The phrase was built on the model of *annus mirabilis*, Latin for "wonderful year" or "year of wonders". [John Dryden](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-dryden) used that phrase as the title of his poem *Annus Mirabilis: the year of wonders 1666*, published in 1667, which commemorated English naval victories over the Dutch and the [Great Fire of London](https://www.edgepedia.org/great-fire-of-london).[5](https://www.etymonline.com/word/annus%20mirabilis) • [8](https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/annus-horribilis.html) Style guides note an irony in the pairing: 1666, the original *annus mirabilis*, was itself a year of calamity, with the Great Fire and the second year of the Great Plague in England, so the older phrase originally carried much the same sense of a fateful year before it settled into its modern positive meaning.[9](https://www.smashingsciencecn.com/_files/ugd/d26cc6_ed5387c44c2e4503a0bb131753d0cb4e.pdf)
Phrase Finder records *annus horribilis* in English since the mid-1980s, before the speech that made it famous.[8](https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/annus-horribilis.html)
## The Queen's 1992 speech
On 24 November 1992, at a [Guildhall](https://www.edgepedia.org/guildhall) lunch held by the Corporation of London to mark the 40th year of her reign, [Elizabeth II](https://www.edgepedia.org/elizabeth-ii) told about 500 guests: "1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an 'Annus Horribilis'."[3](https://time.com/6227232/annus-horribilis-divorce-the-crown/) The speech came four days after the Windsor Castle fire, and in it the Queen asked for scrutiny of the monarchy to be made "with a touch of gentleness, good humor, and understanding", while acknowledging that no institution should expect to be free from scrutiny; she received a standing ovation.[3](https://time.com/6227232/annus-horribilis-divorce-the-crown/)
The year had given the phrase its substance. In March Prince Andrew separated from Sarah Ferguson; in April Princess Anne divorced [Mark Phillips](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-phillips) after 18 years of marriage; and Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated, with the announcement made on 9 December, after the speech. A fire destroyed part of Windsor Castle in November, and Andrew Morton's biography *Diana: Her True Story*, published that year, had exposed Charles's affair with Camilla Parker Bowles and drawn sustained tabloid scrutiny to the family.[3](https://time.com/6227232/annus-horribilis-divorce-the-crown/) The Queen's Christmas message that year repeated the phrase, saying 1992 was not a year she would look back on with undiluted pleasure.[10](https://d3ddkgxe55ca6c.cloudfront.net/assets/t1662995984/a/a4/51/resource-pack-a-life-story-queen-elizabeth-ii-by-sally-morgan-2152349.pdf)
## Later use
After 1992 the phrase became a ready-made label for any bad twelve months. [Kofi Annan](https://www.edgepedia.org/kofi-annan), then [Secretary-General of the United Nations](https://www.edgepedia.org/secretary-general-of-the-united-nations), used it in a speech of 21 December 2004, a year of scandal and controversy at the organization.[8](https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/annus-horribilis.html) • [9](https://www.smashingsciencecn.com/_files/ugd/d26cc6_ed5387c44c2e4503a0bb131753d0cb4e.pdf) Journalists have since applied it to fields as varied as commodities trading, cryptocurrency, bond markets, and the fortunes of individual companies and public figures.[7](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis?q=annus) • [11](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/annus-horribilis?q=annus+horribilis)
## References
1. [Annus horribilis definition, Collins English Dictionary](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis)
2. [Annus horribilis, Cambridge English Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis)
3. [The Crown Depicts 1992 as the Queen's 'Annus Horribilis.' Here's What Happened That Year, TIME](https://time.com/6227232/annus-horribilis-divorce-the-crown/)
4. [Annus horribilis noun, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/annus-horribilis)
5. [Etymology of annus mirabilis, Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/word/annus%20mirabilis)
6. [Annus horribilis, Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/annus_horribilis)
7. [Meaning of annus horribilis in English, Cambridge Dictionary (examples)](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/annus-horribilis?q=annus)
8. [Annus Horribilis – Meaning & Origin Of The Phrase, Phrase Finder](https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/annus-horribilis.html)
9. [Style Guide entry: annus horribilis, annus mirabilis](https://www.smashingsciencecn.com/_files/ugd/d26cc6_ed5387c44c2e4503a0bb131753d0cb4e.pdf)
10. [A Life Story: Queen Elizabeth II resource pack](https://d3ddkgxe55ca6c.cloudfront.net/assets/t1662995984/a/a4/51/resource-pack-a-life-story-queen-elizabeth-ii-by-sally-morgan-2152349.pdf)
11. [Annus horribilis Definition & Meaning, Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/annus-horribilis?q=annus+horribilis)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Languages and linguistics › Linguistics › Language change, history, and social variation › Language contact and borrowing*
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