Where does “possible” come from?
possible (Middle English) comes from Old French possible, from Latin possibilis, from Latin -bilis, from Proto-Italic -ðlis, from Proto-Indo-European -dʰlis, from Proto-Indo-European -dʰlom — Alternative form of *-trom; instrumental suffix;...
Ancestry of “possible”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | possible | — |
| 2 | Latin | possibilis | possible, that may exist, that may be done |
| 3 | Latin | -bilis | -ble |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | -ðlis | Forms adjectives from verb stems indicating capacity or worth of being acted on |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -dʰlis | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -dʰlom | Alternative form of *-trom; instrumental suffix;... |