Etymograph

English

indelible

Indelible comes from Latin indēlēbilis ‘indestructible’, from dēlēbilis ‘destructible’, and ultimately from dēleō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēleō‘to destroy, terminate’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēlēbilis‘destructible’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEindēlēbilis‘indestructible’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1834indelible

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēleō‘to destroy, terminate’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēlēbilis‘destructible’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEindēlēbilis‘indestructible’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1834indelible

Earliest quotation: 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, London: Richard Bentley: “The brow was smooth and fair; no deep thought,…”

Equivalent to in- + delible

Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

Proto-Germanic *in ‘into’

English in-

Latin dēleō ‘to destroy, terminate’

Latin dēlēbilis ‘destructible, destroyable’

English delible

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- ‘to smear’

lime, loam, 9 more

through Latin dēleō ‘to destroy, terminate’

delete, deletion, dele, 4 more

Today it means

adj Having the quality of being difficult to delete, remove, wash away, blot out, or efface.

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

Etymograph / Latin dēleō / indelible

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