Etymograph

English

comfortable

Comfortable comes from Old French confortable, from conforter ‘to comfort’, from Late Latin confortō ‘to strengthen greatly’, from con- + fortis ‘strong’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*forktis1‘strong’reconstructed
  2. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEforctis1
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfortis2‘strong’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEconfortō2‘to strengthen greatly’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400conforter3‘to reassure, comfort’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400confortable3
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500comfortable3
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600comfortable3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin fortis
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old French conforter
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English comfortable
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*forktisWiktionary, Latin fortis‘strong’reconstructed
  2. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEforctisWiktionary, Latin fortis
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfortisWiktionary, Old French conforter‘strong’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEconfortōWiktionary, Old French conforter‘to strengthen greatly’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400conforterWiktionary, English comfortable‘to reassure, comfort’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400confortableWiktionary, English comfortable
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500comfortableWiktionary, English comfortable
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1598–1600comfortableWiktionary, English comfortable. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It: “Thy conceit is nearer death than thy powers. For…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to rise, high, hill’

berry, borough, burgess, bourgeois, barrow, burglar, 24 more

through Old Latin forctis

enforce, fortitude, 12 more

through Latin fortis ‘strong’

force, fort, 15 more

Today it means

adj Providing physical comfort and ease; agreeable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “comfortable”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin fortis, Old French conforter. 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-Italic *forktis / comfortable

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