Where does “abusive” come from?
Abusive comes from French abusif, from Latin abusivus, combining the Latin prefix ab- (away from) with a root from Proto-Indo-European h₂epó (off, away).
abusive (English): Prone to treat someone badly by coarse, insulting...
Definitions
- Prone to treat someone badly by coarse, insulting...
Ancestry of “abusive”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | abusif | abusive |
| 2 | Latin | abūsīvus | misused |
| 3 | Latin | abūtor | to use up, exhaust, consume entirely |
| 4 | Latin | ūtor | to use, make use of, employ |
| 5 | Proto-Slavic | *ǫtorъ | croze |
| 6 | Proto-Slavic | torъ | paddock, pen |
| 7 | Proto-Slavic | terti | to rub, to scrape; to polish |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | terh₁- | to rub, turn; to drill, pierce |