Where does “tolerable” come from?
tolerable (Middle English) comes from Middle French tolerable, from Latin tolerabilis, 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 “tolerable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | tolerable | — |
| 2 | Latin | tolerabilis | bearable, supportable, endurable, passable,... |
| 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;... |