English
amability
Amability comes from Latin amabilitas ‘loveliness, amiableness’, from amō ‘to love’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- ‘to take hold of’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃emh₃-1‘to take hold of’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*amāō1‘to get hold of’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamō2‘to love’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamābilis3‘lovely, amiable’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamabilitas4‘loveliness, amiableness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1657amability4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin amo
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin amabilis
- 3 Wiktionary, Latin amabilitas
- 4 Wiktionary, English amability
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1657, Jeremy Taylor, Discourse of the Nature: “every excellency is a degree of amability”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃emh₃-Wiktionary, Latin amo‘to take hold of’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*amāōWiktionary, Latin amo‘to get hold of’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamōWiktionary, Latin amabilis‘to love’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamābilisWiktionary, Latin amabilitas‘lovely, amiable’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamabilitasWiktionary, English amability‘loveliness, amiableness’
- Englishearliest quotation 1657amabilityWiktionary, English amability. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1657, Jeremy Taylor, Discourse of the Nature: “every excellency is a degree of amability”
Linked words
through Latin amō ‘to love’
enemy, amour, amicable, enmity, amity, amenity, inimical, 19 more
Today it means
noun lovableness
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “amability”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin amo, Latin amabilis, Latin amabilitas. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- / amability