Etymology Explorer › Middle French

Where does “volatile” come from?

volatile (Middle French) comes from Latin volātilis, from Latin -ilis, from Proto-Italic -elis, from Proto-Indo-European -elis, from Proto-Indo-European -lós — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.

Ancestry of “volatile”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinvolātilis—
2Latin-ilis-ile
3Proto-Italic-elis—
4Proto-Indo-European-elis—
5Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

Words derived from “volatile”

  • volatile
  • volatility
  • nonvolatile
  • volatilize
  • devolatilization
  • volatilise
  • semivolatile
  • involatile
  • nonvolatility
  • volatilizer
  • devolatilize
  • volatileness
  • volatilely
  • devolatilizer
  • devolatilise
  • covolatility
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós →