English
timidity
Timidity comes from Latin timidus ‘fearful, afraid, apprehensive, timid’, and goes back to timeō ‘to fear’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimeō‘to fear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimidus‘fearful, afraid, apprehensive, timid’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimiditasas timiditātem
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600timidité
- Englishearliest quotation 1849timidity
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimeō‘to fear’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimidus‘fearful, afraid, apprehensive, timid’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtimiditasas timiditātem
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600timidité
- Englishearliest quotation 1849timidity
Earliest quotation: 1849, Minutes of the committee of council on e: “[…] instead of the joyous voices of his playfellows…”
Formed from timid + -ity
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *temH- ‘dark’
through Latin timidus ‘fearful, afraid, apprehensive, timid’
Today it means
noun The state of being timid; shyness.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin timeō / timidity