Etymograph

English

feeble

Feeble comes from Anglo-Norman feble ‘weak, feeble’, from Latin flēbilis ‘tearful, mournful, lamentable’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*flēōreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfleō‘to weep, cry’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflēbilis‘tearful, mournful, lamentable’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400feble‘weak, feeble’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feble‘Infirm, weak, or frail’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712feeble

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*flēōreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfleō‘to weep, cry’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflēbilis‘tearful, mournful, lamentable’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400feble‘weak, feeble’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feble‘Infirm, weak, or frail’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712feeble

Earliest quotation: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “Pent up in Utica he vainly forms A poor…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁-

blow, inflation, blast, flavor, flux, fluent, bliss, bladder, confluence, fluency, inflate, fluvial, flatulence, conflate, soufflé, blithely, blare, blather, blasé, bleat, 45 more

Today it means

adj Deficient in physical strength.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- / feeble

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