Where does “intolerable” come from?
Intolerable comes from Middle French intolerable, from Latin intolerabilis, composed of the Latin prefix in- (not) and Latin tolerabilis, ultimately tracing to Proto-Indo-European ne (not).
intolerable (English): not tolerable; not capable of being borne or...
Definitions
- not tolerable; not capable of being borne or...
Ancestry of “intolerable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | intolerable | — |
| 2 | Latin | intolerabilis | intolerable, insupportable; impatient |
| 3 | Latin | tolerabilis | bearable, supportable, endurable, passable,... |
| 4 | Latin | -bilis | -ble |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -ðlis | Forms adjectives from verb stems indicating capacity or worth of being acted on |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -dʰlis | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -dʰlom | Alternative form of *-trom; instrumental suffix;... |