Etymograph

English

insufferable

Insufferable comes from Middle English insufferable ‘unbearably painful, intolerable’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-1‘to bear, carry’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500insufferable1‘unbearably painful, intolerable’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1693insufferable1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English insufferable
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, [The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr: “No, his good Meen, his Youth, and blooming Face…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-Wiktionary, English insufferable‘to bear, carry’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500insufferableWiktionary, English insufferable‘unbearably painful, intolerable’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1693insufferableWiktionary, English insufferable. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, [The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fifth Satyr: “No, his good Meen, his Youth, and blooming Face…”

The story

From Old French souffrable, suffrable are derived from Medieval Latin sufferābilis, from Latin sufferre + -ābilis (suffix meaning ‘able or worthy to be’); while sufferre is the present active infinitive of sufferō, subferō (‘to bear or carry under; to bear, endure, suffer, undergo’), from sub- (prefix meaning ‘below, under’) + ferō (‘to bear, carry; to endure, suffer, tolerate’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (‘to bear, carry’)). The English word is analysable as in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + sufferable.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’

different, bar, birth, bear, difference, offer, broad, bread, relative, reference, relation, fortune, prefer, relate, burden, transfer, barrel, translation, extraordinary, barn, bore, fury, baron, breeze, frustration, bark, referendum, suffer, translate, borne, differ, referee, fertility, broom, phosphate, barrow, embargo, extravagant, berth, fret, 158 more

Today it means

adj Not sufferable; very difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable, unbearable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “insufferable”. 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 *bʰer- / insufferable

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