Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “pessimistic” come from?

Pessimistic comes from French pessimiste with the suffix -ique, from Latin pessimus meaning worst with the suffix -icus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -kos.

pessimistic (English): Marked by pessimism and little hopefulness;...

Definitions

  1. Marked by pessimism and little hopefulness;...

Ancestry of “pessimistic”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-icUsed to form adjectives from nouns with the...
2EnglishimageAn optical or other representation of a real...
3Frenchimagepicture, image; frame; first-person singular...
4Portugueseimagemimage; picture; figure; image; image; face
5Spanishimagenimage
6Italianimmagineimage; imago
7Latinimāginem—
8Latinim-Alternative form of in-; form of "in"; in
9Latinīn-—
10Latinîn—
11Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
12Proto-Italicenin
13Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “pessimistic”

  • pessimistically
  • overpessimistic
  • unpessimistic
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →