Etymograph

English

immense

Immense comes from Latin immensus ‘immeasurable, boundless, endless, vast, immense’, from mensus ‘measured’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-1‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mētis1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmētior2‘to measure’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmensus3‘measured’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimmensus3‘immeasurable, boundless, endless, vast, immense’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400immense3
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500immens3
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1847immense3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin metior
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin mensus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English immense
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1847, – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray: “The gallant young Indian dandies at home on furlough—immense…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₁-Wiktionary, Latin metior‘to measure’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mētisWiktionary, Latin metiorreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmētiorWiktionary, Latin mensus‘to measure’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmensusWiktionary, English immense‘measured’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimmensusWiktionary, English immense‘immeasurable, boundless, endless, vast, immense’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400immenseWiktionary, English immense
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500immensWiktionary, English immense
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1847immenseWiktionary, English immense. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1847, – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray: “The gallant young Indian dandies at home on furlough—immense…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’

month, moon, moral, meal, sunny, meter, moody, metric, metre, meta, menstrual, madder, asymmetry, metrology, mete, metis, firman, metra, moodiness, menses, 62 more

through Proto-Italic *mētis

dimensionless, 18 more

through Latin mētior ‘to measure’

measure, dimensional, dimension, commensurate, commensal, 19 more

through Latin mensus ‘measured’

mesa, mensa, 5 more

Today it means

adj Huge, gigantic, very large.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “immense”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin metior, Latin mensus. 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 *meh₁- / immense

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