English
implacable
Implacable comes from Old French implacable ‘harsh, unrelenting’, from Latin implācābilis ‘unappeasable, implacable’, and ultimately from plācō ‘to assuage, pacify, placate’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplācō‘to assuage, pacify, placate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEplācābilis‘placable’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimplācābilis‘unappeasable, implacable’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400implacable‘harsh, unrelenting’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500implācāble‘immitigable, unappeasable’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602implacable
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplācō‘to assuage, pacify, placate’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEplācābilis‘placable’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimplācābilis‘unappeasable, implacable’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400implacable‘harsh, unrelenting’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500implācāble‘immitigable, unappeasable’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1601–1602implacable
Earliest quotation: c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, Twelfe Night, or What You Will: “He is knight dubb'd with vnhatche'd Rapier, and on…”
The story
From Middle English implācāble (‘immitigable, unappeasable’) from Old French implacable (‘harsh, unrelenting; implacable’) (modern French implacable), from Latin implācābilis (‘unappeasable, implacable; irreconcilable’), from im- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’)) + plācābilis (‘placable; appeasing, moderating, pacifying, propitiating; acceptable’) (from plācō (‘to assuage, pacify, placate; to appease; to reconcile’) + -bilis (suffix forming adjectives indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleHk- ‘pleasingness or permission’
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘wide and flat’
field, floor, explain, plane, palm, explanation, plain, clan, archipelago, fluke, explanatory, parma, playa, flounder, planar, palatine, placenta, esplanade, polonium, pelagic, plantar, lech, flay, veld, floe, purdah, llano, planta, 49 more
through Latin plācō ‘to assuage, pacify, placate’
Today it means
adj Not able to be placated or appeased.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin plācō / implacable