English
timid
Timid comes from Latin timidus ‘full of fear, fearful, timid’, and goes back to timeō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimeō1‘to fear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimidus1‘full of fear, fearful, timid’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600timide1
- Englishearliest quotation 1963timid1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English timid
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimeōWiktionary, English timid‘to fear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimidusWiktionary, English timid‘full of fear, fearful, timid’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600timideWiktionary, English timid
- Englishearliest quotation 1963timidWiktionary, English timid. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *temH- ‘dark’
through Latin timidus ‘full of fear, fearful, timid’
Today it means
adj Lacking in courage or confidence.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin timeō / timid