Where does “impair” come from?
Impair comes from Middle English impairen, from Old French empeirier, formed from Old French en- and Latin -are combined with Latin -arius, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ne via Latin in-.
impair (English): To weaken; to affect negatively; to have a...
Definitions
- To weaken; to affect negatively; to have a...
Ancestry of “impair”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | impairen | — |
| 2 | Old French | empoirier | to worsen |
| 3 | Vulgar Latin | impeioro | — |
| 4 | Latin | pēior | worse |
| 5 | Latin | malus | unpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad;... |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | μηλέα | apple tree |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | μῆλον | apple; any fruit from a tree; a woman's breast |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)meh₁l- | small animal”; small animal |