Where does “unenviable” come from?
Unenviable derives from English un- plus enviable, which comes from Latin inuidia through Old French, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂ent- meaning "being" or "entity."
unenviable (English): Difficult, undesirable, or unpleasant; not to be...
Definitions
- Difficult, undesirable, or unpleasant; not to be...
Ancestry of “unenviable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | enviable | Arousing or likely to arouse envy |
| 2 | English | envy | Resentful desire of something possessed by... |
| 3 | Middle English | envie | ill-will, hatred, enmity, hostility; spite,... |
| 4 | Old French | envie | — |
| 5 | Latin | invidia | envy, grudge, jealousy, prejudice, spite; an... |
| 6 | Latin | invidus | envious; hostile, inimical |
| 7 | Latin | invideo | I look askance or maliciously at, cast an evil... |
| 8 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 9 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 10 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |