Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “affable” come from?

Affable comes from French affable, from Latin affabilis meaning "easy to speak to," derived from Latin affor "to speak to," built from the prefix ad- "to" and Proto-Indo-European ád, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂éd.

affable (English): Receiving others kindly and conversing with them...

Definitions

  1. Receiving others kindly and conversing with them...

Ancestry of “affable”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchaffableaffable, amicable, sociable
2Latinaffābilis—
3LatinafforI speak to, address, accost, implore; I fix the...
4Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
5Latinīn-—
6Latinîn—
7Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
8Proto-Italicenin
9Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “affable”

  • affability
  • affably
  • unaffable
  • affableness
  • inaffable
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →