Etymograph

English

impair

Impair comes from Late Latin peiōrō ‘worsen’.

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpeiōrōas peiōrāre‘worsen’
  2. Early Medieval Latinmodernimpeiōrāre
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400empeirier
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500impairen
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590impair

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEpeiōrōas peiōrāre‘worsen’
  2. Early Medieval Latinmodernimpeiōrāre
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400empeirier
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500impairen
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590impair

Earliest quotation: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto VII: “Flesh may empaire,[…]but reason can repaire.”

Every English word from Late Latin peiōrō

Today it means

verb To weaken; to affect negatively; to have a diminishing effect on.

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

Etymograph / Late Latin peiōrō / impair

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