Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “licentious” come from?

Licentious comes from Latin licentiosus, from licentia, from licens, from licet, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European leyk-.

licentious (English): Lacking restraint, or ignoring societal...

Definitions

  1. Lacking restraint, or ignoring societal...

Ancestry of “licentious”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinlicentiōsus—
2Latinlicentiaa license, freedom, liberty; a liberty which one...
3Latin-iaUsed to form a feminine abstract noun, usually...
4Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
5Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
6Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

Words derived from “licentious”

  • licentiousness
  • licentiously
  • unlicentious
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →