English
palpable
Palpable comes from Middle French palpable ‘touchable’, and goes back to Latin palpō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalpō‘to touch softly’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalpābilis‘that can be touched or felt, palpable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600palpable‘touchable’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602palpable
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalpō‘to touch softly’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpalpābilis‘that can be touched or felt, palpable’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600palpable‘touchable’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602palpable
Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “Osric: A hit, a very palpable hit.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to drive, swing, shake’
film, felt, simply, simple, push, filter, powder, complain, fold, pulse, pillow, repeal, flaw, compulsive, expel, pollen, repel, propel, palate, pelt, peloton, wallow, pollinate, pall, peplum, palatable, tuple, pulver, pillion, muffle, apoplexy, interpolate, palatal, 64 more
through Ancient Greek πάλλω ‘swing, shake, shake loose’
Today it means
adj Capable of being touched, felt or handled; touchable, tangible.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin palpō / palpable