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
- The quality of being possible; A thing possible;...
Ancestry of “possibility”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | possibilite | possibility; option |
| 2 | Middle French | possibilité | — |
| 3 | Old French | possibilité | possibility |
| 4 | Latin | possibilitās | possibility |
| 5 | Latin | possibilis | possible, that may exist, that may be done |
| 6 | Latin | -bilis | -ble |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -ðlis | Forms adjectives from verb stems indicating capacity or worth of being acted on |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -dʰlis | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -dʰlom | Alternative form of *-trom; instrumental suffix;... |