Where does “incumbent” come from?
Incumbent comes from Latin incumbens, the present participle of incumbo, meaning to lie or lean upon, formed from the prefix in- and cubo, to lie down.
incumbent (English): Imposed on someone as an obligation, especially...
Definitions
- Imposed on someone as an obligation, especially...
Ancestry of “incumbent”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | incumbent | third-person plural future active indicative of... |
| 2 | Latin | incumbens | reclining |
| 3 | Latin | incumbo | I lay oneself upon; I lean or recline on... |
| 4 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 5 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 6 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |