Etymograph

English

impressionless

Impressionless comes from Latin impressiō ‘push, thrust, assault, onslaught’, from imprimō ‘to press, impress’, and ultimately from premō.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremō1‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress, overwhelm’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimprimō1‘to press, impress’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpressiō1‘push, thrust, assault, onslaught’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400impression1
  5. English1500–presentimpression1
  6. Englishtodayimpressionless1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English impressionless

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremōWiktionary, English impressionless‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress, overwhelm’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimprimōWiktionary, English impressionless‘to press, impress’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpressiōWiktionary, English impressionless‘push, thrust, assault, onslaught’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400impressionWiktionary, English impressionless
  5. English1500–presentimpressionWiktionary, English impressionless
  6. EnglishtodayimpressionlessWiktionary, English impressionless

A compound of impression + -less

Latin premō ‘to press’

Latin imprimō ‘to press, impress’

Latin impressiō

Old French impression

English impression

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pres- ‘to press’

first, expression, frist, 33 more

through Proto-Italic *pres-

pressure, express, depression, oppression, compression, suppression, depressive, compress, depress, repress, 34 more

through Latin premō ‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress,…’

press, pregnant, imprint, sprain, reprimand, 44 more

through Latin imprimō ‘to press, impress’

imprimatur, impressionable, 27 more

through English impression

impressionistic, 6 more

Today it means

adj unimpressed or unaffected

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “impressionless”. 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 / Latin premō / impressionless