Etymograph

English

inexcusable

Inexcusable comes from Latin inexcusabilis, from excūsābilis ‘excusable’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Italic *kaussā.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaussā1uncertain
  2. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEcaussa1uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausa1‘cause, reason’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcūsō2‘to excuse’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcūsābilis3‘excusable’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinexcusabilis4
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inexcusable4
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2022inexcusable4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin excuso
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin excusabilis
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin inexcusabilis
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English inexcusable
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2022, Philip Haigh, Network News: TPE under fire over "unacceptable" cancellatio: “It's completely inexcusable that communities in the north of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaussāWiktionary, Latin excusouncertain
  2. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEcaussaWiktionary, Latin excusouncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcausaWiktionary, Latin excuso‘cause, reason’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcūsōWiktionary, Latin excusabilis‘to excuse’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexcūsābilisWiktionary, Latin inexcusabilis‘excusable’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinexcusabilisWiktionary, English inexcusable
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inexcusableWiktionary, English inexcusable
  8. Englishearliest quotation 2022inexcusableWiktionary, English inexcusable. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2022, Philip Haigh, Network News: TPE under fire over "unacceptable" cancellatio: “It's completely inexcusable that communities in the north of…”

Linked words

through Old Latin caussa

accuser, 22 more

through Latin causa ‘cause, reason’

because, cause, chose, chest, accuse, accusation, syllabus, causal, causative, accusative, 23 more

through Latin excūsō ‘to excuse’

excuse, 3 more

Today it means

adj not excusable

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “inexcusable”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin excuso, Latin excusabilis, Latin inexcusabilis. 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-Italic *kaussā / inexcusable

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