Where does “inability” come from?
Inability comes from English hability with the prefix in- (from Latin in-, from Latin in, from Proto-Indo-European ne), combined with the root from Proto-Indo-European oyd- and en.
inability (English): Lack of the ability to do something;...
Definitions
- Lack of the ability to do something;...
Ancestry of “inability”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | inhability | unsuitableness; inability |
| 2 | English | in- | in, into, towards, within; in, into; Used with... |
| 3 | Middle English | in- | — |
| 4 | Old English | in- | in, into; on, upon; internal, positioned on the... |
| 5 | Old English | in | in; Alternative form of inn |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | *in | — |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | in | in; into |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | én | in |