English
flexible
Flexible comes from Latin flexibilis ‘flexible, pliant, able to be bent’, and goes back to flectō ‘to bend, curve’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflectō‘to bend, curve’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflexibilis‘flexible, pliant, able to be bent’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600flexible
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592flexible
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflectō‘to bend, curve’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEflexibilis‘flexible, pliant, able to be bent’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600flexible
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592flexible
Earliest quotation: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible.”.
Linked words
through Latin flectō ‘to bend, curve’
reflect, deflection, reflex, deflect, inflection, flexor, 11 more
Today it means
adj Capable of being flexed or bent without breaking; able to be turned or twisted without breaking.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin flectō / flexible