Where does “inscrutable” come from?
Inscrutable comes from Latin inscrutabilis, formed from the prefix in- meaning "not" and scrutabilis "able to be searched," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ne meaning "not."
inscrutable (English): Difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom, or...
Definitions
- Difficult or impossible to comprehend, fathom, or...
Ancestry of “inscrutable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Latin | inscrutabilis | inscrutable |
| 2 | Latin | īn- | — |
| 3 | Latin | în | — |
| 4 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |
Words derived from “inscrutable”