Etymograph

English

impatience

Impatience comes from Latin impatientia, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- ‘to hate, hurt’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₁-1‘to hate, hurt’next step skipped: Latin impatiens
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpatientia1
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400impacience1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500impacience1
  5. Englishtodayimpatience1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English impatience

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₁-Wiktionary, English impatience‘to hate, hurt’next step skipped: Latin impatiens
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpatientiaWiktionary, English impatience
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400impacienceWiktionary, English impatience
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500impacienceWiktionary, English impatience
  5. EnglishtodayimpatienceWiktionary, English impatience

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- ‘to hate, hurt’

patient, passive, passionate, compassion, compatible, repent, fend, penitentiary, fiend, penance, penitent, penitence, 10 more

Today it means

noun The quality of being impatient; lacking patience; restlessness and intolerance of delays; anxiety and eagerness, especially to begin something.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “impatience”. 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 *peh₁- / impatience

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