Other forms: tragedies
A tragedy is a serious play with a deeply sad ending, or any terrible event. A Greek tragedy, a family tragedy, ended in tragedy.
The dramatic sense is the original: a tragedy shows somebody destroyed by their own nature, and Aristotle's account of pity and fear is still the starting point for talking about it. The news sense has spread so far that the word now covers any disaster. Note that the Greek means goat song, for reasons nobody has settled.
1nountragedyA serious play with a deeply sad ending.
“Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy in which both young lovers die.”
2nounterribleA terrible event.
“The death of the young climber was a tragedy for his family.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
tragedy is a form of drama, or a disaster.
Greek tragoidia is tragos, a goat, plus oide, a song. Why a goat is disputed — a prize, a sacrifice, or the costume of a chorus.
Proto-Indo-European
*terh₁-
Ancient Greek
τραγῳδία — epic play, tragedy
Latin
tragoedia
Old French
tragedie
Middle English
tragedie
English, today
tragedy
Built from
From the Middle English tragedie, from the Old French tragedie, from the Latin tragoedia, from the Ancient Greek τραγῳδία (“epic play, tragedy”), from τράγος (“male goat”) + ᾠδή (“song”), possibly a reference to the goat-satyrs of the theatrical plays of the Dorians, or according to Beekes possibly to a goat given as prize, though the etymology remains uncertain.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA