Etymograph

English

evanesce

Evanesce comes from Latin ēvānēscō ‘to vanish’, from vānēscō ‘disappear’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘empty, leave, abandon, give out’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-1‘empty, leave, abandon, give out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wānos1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvānus2‘empty’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvānēscō3‘disappear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvānēscō4as evanescere‘to vanish’
  6. Englishtodayevanesce4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vanus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin vanesco
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin evanesco
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English evanesce

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-Wiktionary, Latin vanus‘empty, leave, abandon, give out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wānosWiktionary, Latin vanusreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvānusWiktionary, Latin vanesco‘empty’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvānēscōWiktionary, Latin evanesco‘disappear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvānēscōWiktionary, English evanesceas evanescere‘to vanish’
  6. EnglishtodayevanesceWiktionary, English evanesce

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘empty, leave, abandon, give out’

want, various, waste, variety, vast, vacation, vary, void, variable, vacant, evacuate, vacate, waning, vacuous, wane, varicella, 26 more

through Latin vānus ‘empty’

vain, vanity, 7 more

through Latin ēvānēscō ‘to vanish’

vanish, 3 more

Today it means

verb To disappear into a mist or dissipate in vapor

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “evanesce”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin vanus, Latin vanesco, Latin evanesco. 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 *h₁weh₂- / evanesce

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