English
hesitancy
Hesitancy comes from Latin haesitāns ‘hesitating, uncertain’, and goes back to haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaereō‘to stick, stick fast’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitō‘to hesitate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitāns‘hesitating, uncertain’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitantia
- Englishtodayhesitancy
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaereō‘to stick, stick fast’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitō‘to hesitate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitāns‘hesitating, uncertain’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEhaesitantia
- Englishtodayhesitancy
Equivalent to hesitant + -cy
Latin haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’
Latin haesitō ‘to hesitate’
Latin haesitāns ‘hesitating, uncertain’
English hesitant
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰays- ‘to adhere, to stick, to be fixed’
through Latin haereō ‘to stick, stick fast’
coherent, adhere, adhesive, cohesion, coherence, adhesion, coherency, 26 more
Today it means
noun A pausing or halting before beginning a task, often as a result of some fear or uncertainty about the outcome.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin haereō / hesitancy