Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “hypersensitive” come from?

Hypersensitive derives from English sensitive, Ancient Greek ὑπέρ meaning "over," and Proto-Indo-European sent- and h₁es- meaning "to feel" and "to be."

hypersensitive (English): Highly or abnormally sensitive to some substances...

Definitions

  1. Highly or abnormally sensitive to some substances...

Ancestry of “hypersensitive”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Englishhyper-over, above or beyond; excessive; existing in...
2Greekυπερ-hyper, super; hyper-; super-, ultra-, sur-
3Ancient Greekὑπερ-over-, super-
4Ancient Greekὑπέρfor; over-much, above measure
5Proto-Indo-Europeanupérabove; over
6Proto-Indo-Europeanupóunder, below
7Proto-Indo-Europeanh₃ewp-—

Words derived from “hypersensitive”

  • hypersensitiveness
  • hypersensitize
  • hypersensitively
  • nonhypersensitive
  • electrohypersensitive
  • pseudohypersensitive
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₃ewp- →