Where does “ineligible” come from?
Ineligible comes from French inéligible, composed of the French prefix in- (from Latin in-, meaning "not") and an unattested root ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European ne, meaning "not."
ineligible (English): Not eligible; forbidden to do something; One who...
Definitions
- Not eligible; forbidden to do something; One who...
Ancestry of “ineligible”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | inéligible | ineligible |
| 2 | French | éligible | eligible |
| 3 | Latin | eligibilis | eligible; desirable |
| 4 | Latin | ēligō | to choose, to pluck or root out, extract |
| 5 | Latin | legō | to collect, gather, bring together, catch |
| 6 | Latin | lēx | a proposition or motion for a law made to the people by a magistrate, a bill |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | lēg- | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | leǵ-s | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | leǵ- | to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to... |