Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “vulnerable” come from?

Vulnerable comes from Late Latin vulnerabilis, from Latin vulnus meaning "wound" plus the Latin suffix -bilis, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -dʰlis and -dʰlom.

vulnerable (English): More or most likely to be exposed to the chance...

Definitions

  1. More or most likely to be exposed to the chance...

Ancestry of “vulnerable”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinvulnerābilis—
2Latin-bilis-ble
3Proto-Italic-ðlis—
4Proto-Indo-European-dʰlis—
5Proto-Indo-European-dʰlomAlternative form of *-trom; instrumental suffix;...

Words derived from “vulnerable”

  • vulnerability
  • vulnerably
  • nonvulnerable
  • unvulnerable
  • vulnerableness
  • hypervulnerability
  • ultravulnerable
  • cybervulnerability
  • supervulnerable
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -dʰlom →