Etymograph

English

obese

Obese comes from Latin obēsus ‘eaten away, devoured, having been eaten away’, and goes back to obedō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobedō‘to devour, eat away’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEobēsus‘eaten away, devoured, having been eaten away’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2009obese

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobedō‘to devour, eat away’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEobēsus‘eaten away, devoured, having been eaten away’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2009obese

Earliest quotation: 2009, Abdoulaye Ba, Stephane Delliaux: “Despite a large scattering of HR decay rate, even…”

A compound of ob ‘away’ + edō ‘to eat’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi

Proto-Italic *op ‘towards’

Latin ob ‘away’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁ed- ‘to eat’

Proto-Indo-European *h₁édti ‘to eat’

Proto-Italic *edō ‘to eat’

Latin edō ‘to eat’

Linked words

through Latin obēsus ‘eaten away, devoured, having been eaten away’

obesity

Today it means

adj Extremely overweight, especially: weighing more than 20% (for men) or 25% (for women) over their conventionally ideal weight determined by height and build; or, having a body mass index over 30 kg/m².

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

Etymograph / Latin obedō / obese

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