Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “acceptable” come from?

Acceptable comes from Middle English acceptable, from Old French acceptable, from Late Latin acceptabilis, derived from Latin accipio meaning "to receive or accept," with the suffix -bilis meaning "capable of being," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ád meaning "to."

acceptable (English): worthy, decent, sure of being accepted or...

Definitions

  1. worthy, decent, sure of being accepted or...

Ancestry of “acceptable”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishacceptable—
2Middle Frenchacceptable—
3Latinacceptabilisacceptable
4Latinacceptō—
5Latinaccipiō—
6Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
7Latinīn-—
8Latinîn—
9Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
10Proto-Italicenin
11Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “acceptable”

  • acceptability
  • acceptably
  • acceptableness
  • inacceptable
  • nonacceptable
  • inacceptably
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →