Where does “dispensable” come from?
Dispensable comes from Middle English -able, Latin dispensare meaning to distribute or manage, Latin dispendere meaning to weigh out, Latin pendere meaning to hang or weigh, and the prefix dis- combined with Proto-Indo-European dwís and dwóh₁.
dispensable (English): Able to be done without; able to be expended;...
Definitions
- Able to be done without; able to be expended;...
Ancestry of “dispensable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | dispense | To issue, distribute, or give out; To apply, as... |
| 2 | Old French | dispenser | — |
| 3 | Latin | dispensare | present active infinitive of dispēnsō;... |
| 4 | Latin | dispendere | to weight out; weigh out; to weigh out |
| 5 | Latin | pendēre | — |
| 6 | Latin | pendō | to weigh, weigh out |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | pendō | hang, put in a hanging position |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)péndeti | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)pend- | to stretch |