Where does “opaque” come from?

Opaque comes from Middle English opake, from Latin opacus, meaning shaded or dark.

opaque (English): Neither reflecting nor emitting light; Allowing...

Definitions

  1. Neither reflecting nor emitting light; Allowing...

Ancestry of “opaque”, step by step

opaque traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via French opacité

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchopacitéopacity; opaqueness
2Latinopacitasshadiness, shade
3Latin-tāsty, -dom, -hood, -ness, -ship
4Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
5Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
6Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

via Middle English opake

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishopakedark, shaded, unlit
2Middle Frenchopaqueopaque

Words derived from “opaque”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →Every word from Latin -tās →Every word from Proto-Indo-European -teh₂ →