Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “repulsive” come from?

Repulsive comes from Middle French repulsif, from Medieval Latin repulsivus, derived from the Latin past participle repulsus of repellere, meaning to drive back, combining re- with the root pelh₂-.

repulsive (English): tending to rouse aversion or to repulse; having...

Definitions

  1. tending to rouse aversion or to repulse; having...

Ancestry of “repulsive”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchrepulsif—
2Medieval Latinrepulsivus—
3Latinrepulsushaving been rejected, repulsed, repelled; having...
4Latinrepellō—
5Latinrĕ-—
6Latinprōdūcō—
7Latinprō-—
8Proto-Italic*pro-—
9Proto-Indo-Europeanpro-toward, forward
10Proto-Indo-Europeanpor-to give birth; forward, through; going, passage
11Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
12Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “repulsive”

  • repulsiveness
  • repulsively
  • chemorepulsive
  • unrepulsive
  • nonrepulsive
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →