English
unsearchable
Unsearchable comes from Middle English unserchable ‘Unknowable, impossible to know’, from serchen ‘to scrutinise’, and ultimately from Latin circus ‘circle’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircus‘circle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircōas circāre‘to traverse, go about’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400sercher
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500serchen‘to scrutinise’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500unserchable‘Unknowable, impossible to know’
- Englishearliest quotation 1624unsearchable
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircus‘circle’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcircōas circāre‘to traverse, go about’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400sercher
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500serchen‘to scrutinise’
- Middle English, derivedc. 1150–1500unserchable‘Unknowable, impossible to know’
- Englishearliest quotation 1624unsearchable
Earliest quotation: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “He chastiseth and corrects, as to Him seems best,…”
Formed from un- + searchable
Proto-Indo-European *n̥- ‘not, un-’
Proto-Germanic *un- ‘not, un-’
Proto-West Germanic *un- ‘not, un-’
English un-
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to turn, bend’
short, across, cross, cancer, share, card, screen, score, shirt, crucial, curve, skirt, scare, curb, cancellation, scrutiny, shrine, carnival, crest, scar, corona, scorpion, shred, carnage, incarceration, corolla, scorn, shrewd, shear, crux, raffle, riddance, carcinoma, crepe, corgi, carnal, ruck, shrew, carnivorous, scurvy, 111 more
through Latin circus ‘circle’
circuit, circle, circulation, circus, circa, circulate, cirque, circulatory, 13 more
through Middle English serchen ‘to scrutinise’
Today it means
adj That cannot be searched or investigated into; inscrutable, unknowable.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin circus / unsearchable