English
feebleness
Feebleness comes from Middle English feblenesse ‘Frailty’, and goes back to feble.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feble
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500feblenesse‘Frailty’
- Englishearliest quotation 1975feebleness
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feble
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500feblenesse‘Frailty’
- Englishearliest quotation 1975feebleness
Earliest quotation: 1975, Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital. 1848-1875: “The traditional bourgeois ethic, puritan or secular, had ascribed…”
Formed from feeble + -ness
Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁-
…
Latin fleō ‘to weep, cry’
Latin flēbilis ‘tearful, mournful, lamentable’
Anglo-Norman feble ‘weak, feeble’
Middle English feble ‘Infirm, weak, or frail’
English feeble
Every English word from Middle English feble
Today it means
noun The quality or state of being feeble; debility; infirmity.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English feble / feebleness