English
impressionableness
Impressionableness comes from French impressionnable ‘impressionable’, from Latin premō ‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress,…’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pres-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pres-1‘to press’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pres-1uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremō1‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress, overwhelm’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimprimō1‘to press, impress’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpressiōnem1
- Frenchc. 1600–presentimpression1‘an impression, the overall effect of something’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentimpressionner1‘to impress, to wow, to awe’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentimpressionnable1‘impressionable’
- English1500–presentimpressionable1
- Englishtodayimpressionableness1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English impressionableness
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pres-Wiktionary, English impressionableness‘to press’uncertain
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pres-Wiktionary, English impressionablenessuncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremōWiktionary, English impressionableness‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress, overwhelm’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimprimōWiktionary, English impressionableness‘to press, impress’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpressiōnemWiktionary, English impressionableness
- Frenchc. 1600–presentimpressionWiktionary, English impressionableness‘an impression, the overall effect of something’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentimpressionnerWiktionary, English impressionableness‘to impress, to wow, to awe’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentimpressionnableWiktionary, English impressionableness‘impressionable’
- English1500–presentimpressionableWiktionary, English impressionableness
- EnglishtodayimpressionablenessWiktionary, English impressionableness
A compound of impressionable + -ness
Latin premō ‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress,…’
…
Latin impressiōnem
French impression ‘an impression, the overall effect of something’
French impressionner ‘to impress, to wow, to awe’
French impressionnable
English impressionable
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pres- ‘to press’
first, expression, frist, 34 more
through Proto-Italic *pres-
pressure, express, depression, oppression, compression, suppression, depressive, compress, depress, repress, 35 more
through Latin premō ‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress,…’
press, pregnant, imprint, sprain, reprimand, 45 more
through Latin imprimō ‘to press, impress’
Today it means
noun The quality of being impressionable.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “impressionableness”. 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 *pres- / impressionableness