English
anxious
Anxious comes from Latin ānxius ‘afeared, anxious, troubled, uneasy’, from angō ‘to cause pain, choke’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ- ‘distressed, anxious’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂enǵʰ-1‘distressed, anxious’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*anɣō1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEangō1‘to cause pain, choke’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEānxius1‘afeared, anxious, troubled, uneasy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667anxious1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English anxious
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book VIII: “The sweet of life, from which God hath bid…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂enǵʰ-Wiktionary, English anxious‘distressed, anxious’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*anɣōWiktionary, English anxiousreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEangōWiktionary, English anxious‘to cause pain, choke’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEānxiusWiktionary, English anxious‘afeared, anxious, troubled, uneasy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1667anxiousWiktionary, English anxious. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book VIII: “The sweet of life, from which God hath bid…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂enǵʰ- ‘distressed, anxious’
angry, anger, eng, angrily, angst, 12 more
through Latin angō ‘to cause pain, choke’
through Latin ānxius ‘afeared, anxious, troubled, uneasy’
Today it means
adj Nervous and worried.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “anxious”. 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 *h₂enǵʰ- / anxious