Etymograph

English

durable

Durable comes from Latin dūrābilis ‘lasting, permanent’, from dūrō ‘harden, make hard’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dweh₂- ‘long, distant’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂-1‘long, distant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂rós1‘long’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dūros1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrus1‘hard’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrō2‘harden, make hard’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrābilis2‘lasting, permanent’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400durable2
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500durable2
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1989durable2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin duro
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English durable
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1989, Robert A. Pollak, The theory of the cost-of-living index: “In a frictionless world with perfect rental markets, there…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂-Wiktionary, Latin duro‘long, distant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dweh₂rósWiktionary, Latin duro‘long’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dūrosWiktionary, Latin duroreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrusWiktionary, Latin duro‘hard’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrōWiktionary, English durable‘harden, make hard’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdūrābilisWiktionary, English durable‘lasting, permanent’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400durableWiktionary, English durable
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500durableWiktionary, English durable
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1989durableWiktionary, English durable. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1989, Robert A. Pollak, The theory of the cost-of-living index: “In a frictionless world with perfect rental markets, there…”

Linked words

through Latin dūrus ‘hard’

duress, dour, dur, durum, 13 more

through Latin dūrō ‘harden, make hard’

during, duration, endure, durant, 6 more

Today it means

adj Able to resist wear or decay; lasting; enduring.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “durable”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin duro. 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 *dweh₂- / durable

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