Where does “impenetrable” come from?
impenetrable (Middle French) comes from Latin impenetrabilis, from Latin penetrabilis, 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 “impenetrable”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | impenetrabilis | impenetrable; unconquerable, unyielding |
| 2 | Latin | penetrabilis | penetrable; piercing |
| 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;... |