Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “obedient” come from?

Obedient comes from Old French obedient, from Latin oboediens, derived from Latin oboedio, which combines Latin audio with Proto-Indo-European dʰeh₁-.

obedient (English): Willing to comply with the commands, orders, or...

Definitions

  1. Willing to comply with the commands, orders, or...

Ancestry of “obedient”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishobedient—
2Old Frenchobedientobedient
3Latinoboediēns—
4Latinoboedioto obey, yield obedience to; to be subject to, to...
5Latinob-towards; against
6Latinobolusobolus
7Ancient Greekὀβολόςobol, obolus, used at Athens as both a weight and...
8Ancient Greekὀβελόςa spit, rod; a horizontal line
9Ancient Greekβέλοςmissile, arrow, dart; weapon; something quickly...
10Proto-Indo-EuropeangʷélHos—
11Proto-Indo-EuropeangʷelH-to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing

Words derived from “obedient”

  • obediently
  • unobedient
  • nonobedient
  • overobedient
  • obedientness
Every word from Proto-Indo-European gʷelH- →