Etymograph

English

feeble

Feeble comes from Anglo-Norman feble ‘weak, feeble’, from Latin flēbilis ‘tearful, mournful, lamentable’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*flēō2reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfleō1‘to weep, cry’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflēbilis1‘tearful, mournful, lamentable’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400feble1‘weak, feeble’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500feble1‘Infirm, weak, or frail’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712feeble1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English feeble
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin fleo
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “Pent up in Utica he vainly forms A poor…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-Wiktionary, English feeblereconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*flēōWiktionary, Latin fleoreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfleōWiktionary, English feeble‘to weep, cry’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflēbilisWiktionary, English feeble‘tearful, mournful, lamentable’
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400febleWiktionary, English feeble‘weak, feeble’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500febleWiktionary, English feeble‘Infirm, weak, or frail’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1712feebleWiktionary, English feeble. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1712, Joseph Addison, Cato: “Pent up in Utica he vainly forms A poor…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁-

blow, inflation, blast, flavor, flux, fluent, bliss, bladder, confluence, fluency, inflate, fluvial, flatulence, conflate, blithely, blare, blather, bleat, 45 more

Today it means

adj Deficient in physical strength.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “feeble”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin fleo. 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 *bʰleh₁- / feeble

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