Where does “answerable” come from?
Answerable comes from Middle English -able, Old French -able, and Latin -abilis, derived from the Latin root swer- meaning to speak.
answerable (English): Required to justify one's actions ; accountable,...
Definitions
- Required to justify one's actions ; accountable,...
Ancestry of “answerable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | answer | A response or reply; something said or done in... |
| 2 | Middle English | answere | A response to a query or questioning; an... |
| 3 | Old English | andswaru | answer |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | andaswaru | answer, reply |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | andaswarō | answer, reply |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | anda- | against, opposing; un-, de- |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂énti | opposite; near; in front |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂énts | forehead; front |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂ent- | face; forehead; front |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂en- | on, onto |
Words derived from “answerable”