Where does “pernicious” come from?
Pernicious comes from Old French pernicios, from Latin perniciosus, combining Latin per- (through) and the root neḱ- (to kill or harm) with the suffix -osus (full of), meaning destructive or fatal.
pernicious (English): Causing much harm in a subtle way; Causing death...
Definitions
- Causing much harm in a subtle way; Causing death...
Ancestry of “pernicious”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | pernicios | — |
| 2 | French | pernicieux | Insidious. Having a slow and discreet, but... |
| 3 | Latin | perniciōsus | destructive, ruinous, baleful, pernicious |
| 4 | Latin | perniciēs | ruin, destruction |
| 5 | Latin | pernecō | to kill, slay outright |
| 6 | Latin | necō | to kill, murder (especially without physical wounding such as by poison or hunger) |
| 7 | Latin | nex | murder, slaughter, killing; violent death |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | neks | death, slaughter |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | neḱs | death |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | neḱ- | to perish, disappear |