Etymograph

English

corpulence

Corpulence comes from Latin corpulentia, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *krep- ‘body’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krep-1‘body’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorpulentia1
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400corpulence1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1860corpulence1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English corpulence
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1860, Richard Francis Burton, We Return to Unyanyembe: “Corpulence is a beauty: girls are fattened to a…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krep-Wiktionary, English corpulence‘body’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorpulentiaWiktionary, English corpulence
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400corpulenceWiktionary, English corpulence
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1860corpulenceWiktionary, English corpulence. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1860, Richard Francis Burton, We Return to Unyanyembe: “Corpulence is a beauty: girls are fattened to a…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krep- ‘body’

corporation, corporate, corps, riff, corporal, corporeal, corsage, 8 more

Today it means

noun The characteristic or state of being corpulent.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “corpulence”. 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 *krep- / corpulence

Shirt and support for this word