Etymograph

English

incorporeal

Incorporeal comes from Latin incorporeus, from corporeus ‘of or belonging to a body’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krep-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krep-1‘body’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*korpos1‘body’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorpus1‘body’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorporeus2‘of or belonging to a body’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEincorporeus3
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1628incorporeal3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin corporeus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin incorporeus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English incorporeal
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1628, Owen Felltham, Of Assimilation: “The World is all viciſsitude and converſion. Nor is…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krep-Wiktionary, Latin corporeus‘body’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*korposWiktionary, Latin corporeus‘body’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorpusWiktionary, Latin corporeus‘body’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcorporeusWiktionary, Latin incorporeus‘of or belonging to a body’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEincorporeusWiktionary, English incorporeal
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1628incorporealWiktionary, English incorporeal. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1628, Owen Felltham, Of Assimilation: “The World is all viciſsitude and converſion. Nor is…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krep- ‘body’

riff, 6 more

through Proto-Italic *korpos ‘body’

corpse, 9 more

through Latin corpus ‘body’

corporation, corporate, corps, corpus, corporal, corse, corsage, corpulent, 10 more

Today it means

adj Having no material form or physical substance.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “incorporeal”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin corporeus, Latin incorporeus. 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 *krep- / incorporeal

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