Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “impiety” come from?

Impiety comes from Old French impieté, from Latin impietas, combining the Latin prefix in- with pietas, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European h₁én meaning "to be" or "exist."

impiety (English): The state of being impious; An impious act; The...

Definitions

  1. The state of being impious; An impious act; The...

Ancestry of “impiety”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchimpieté—
2Latinimpietasirreverence, ungodliness, impiety
3Latinimpiusdisloyal, undutiful; godless, impious,...
4Latinpīus—
5Latin-tās—
6Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
7Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
8Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →