English
anankastic
Anankastic comes from Ancient Greek ἀναγκάζω ‘to force, to compel’, and goes back to ἀνάγκη.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἀνάγκη1‘force, necessity’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἀναγκάζω2anankázō‘to force, to compel’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἀναγκαστικός2anankastikós
- Englishearliest quotation 2012anankastic2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ἀναγκάζω
- 2 Wiktionary, English anankastic
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2012, Matthew R. Broome, The Maudsley Reader in Phenomenological Psychiatry: “Like many anankastics, he suffers from a disturbance in…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἀνάγκηWiktionary, Ancient Greek ἀναγκάζω‘force, necessity’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἀναγκάζωWiktionary, English anankasticanankázō‘to force, to compel’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἀναγκαστικόςWiktionary, English anankasticanankastikós
- Englishearliest quotation 2012anankasticWiktionary, English anankastic. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2012, Matthew R. Broome, The Maudsley Reader in Phenomenological Psychiatry: “Like many anankastics, he suffers from a disturbance in…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- ‘to reach, attain’
Today it means
adj Imperative, as in the anankastic conditional.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “anankastic”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek ἀναγκάζω. 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 / Ancient Greek ἀνάγκη / anankastic