Where does “capricious” come from?
Capricious comes from French capricieux, from Italian capriccioso, from Italian capriccio meaning whim or sudden change of mood, from Italian capo and Latin caput meaning head, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kauput-.
capricious (English): Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by...
Definitions
- Impulsive and unpredictable; determined by...
Ancestry of “capricious”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | capricieux | capricious |
| 2 | Italian | capriccioso | capricious, whimsical, finicky, naughty,... |
| 3 | Italian | -oso | -ous, -ful, -y |
| 4 | Latin | -ōsus | ose, -ous, -ful (full of or overly prone to) |
| 5 | Old Latin | -ōssus | — |