Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “officious” come from?

Officious comes from Latin officiosus, derived from officium, which combines ops meaning work or service with the suffix -ium, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -yós.

officious (English): Obliging, attentive, eager to please; Offensively...

Definitions

  1. Obliging, attentive, eager to please; Offensively...

Ancestry of “officious”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinofficiosusattentive, dutiful, obliging; officious
2Latinofficiumduty, service; office; obligation, an obligatory...
3Latinopificiumwork
4LatinopifexSomeone who does work ; worker, maker, framer,...
5LatinOpsearth goddess, fertility deity
6Latinoscenany bird by whose song cries augurs divined...
7Latinopscen—
8Latinob-towards; against
9Latinobolusobolus
10Ancient Greekὀβολόςobol, obolus, used at Athens as both a weight and...
11Ancient Greekὀβελόςa spit, rod; a horizontal line
12Ancient Greekβέλοςmissile, arrow, dart; weapon; something quickly...
13Proto-Indo-EuropeangʷélHos—
14Proto-Indo-EuropeangʷelH-to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing

Words derived from “officious”

  • officiously
  • officiousness
  • unofficious
  • overofficious
Every word from Proto-Indo-European gʷelH- →