Etymograph

English

innoxious

Innoxious comes from Latin innoxius ‘harmless, innocuous’, from noxius ‘hurtful, harmful, injurious, noxious’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- ‘to perish, disappear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*neḱ-‘to perish, disappear’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnox(a)
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnoxius‘hurtful, harmful, injurious, noxious’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinnoxius‘harmless, innocuous’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1669innoxious

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*neḱ-‘to perish, disappear’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnox(a)
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnoxius‘hurtful, harmful, injurious, noxious’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinnoxius‘harmless, innocuous’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1669innoxious

Earliest quotation: 1669, Walter Charleton, Of the Mysterie of Vintners: “But of all wayes of hastening the Clarification and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- ‘to perish, disappear’

innocent, nuisance, innocence, nectar, obnoxious, necropolis, innocuous, internecine, 18 more

Today it means

adj Having no harmful effect; harmless, innocuous.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *neḱ- / innoxious

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