Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “possibility” come from?

Possibility comes from Middle French possibilité, from Old French possibilite, from Latin possibilitas, ultimately from Latin possum meaning "to be able," derived from Proto-Indo-European pótis.

possibility (English): The quality of being possible; A thing possible;...

Definitions

  1. The quality of being possible; A thing possible;...

Ancestry of “possibility”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishpossibilitepossibility; option
2Middle Frenchpossibilité—
3Old Frenchpossibilitépossibility
4Latinpossibilitās—
5Latinpossibilispossible, that may exist, that may be done
6Latin-bilis-ble
7Proto-Italic-ðlis—
8Proto-Indo-European-dʰlis—
9Proto-Indo-European-dʰlomAlternative form of *-trom; instrumental suffix;...

Words derived from “possibility”

  • unpossibility
  • nonpossibility
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -dʰlom →