Etymograph

English

intangible

Intangible comes from Medieval Latin intangibilis, from Late Latin tangibilis ‘touchable, tangible’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-1‘to touch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tangō1‘to touch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtango2‘to touch, grasp’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtangibilis2‘touchable, tangible’
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500intangibilis2
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600intangible2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1980intangible2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tango
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English intangible
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1980, Aaron Cohen, Save the Last Dance for Me: “Diaghilev's love for Nijinsky was as deep and as…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-Wiktionary, Latin tango‘to touch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tangōWiktionary, Latin tango‘to touch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtangoWiktionary, English intangible‘to touch, grasp’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEtangibilisWiktionary, English intangible‘touchable, tangible’
  5. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500intangibilisWiktionary, English intangible
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600intangibleWiktionary, English intangible
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1980intangibleWiktionary, English intangible. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1980, Aaron Cohen, Save the Last Dance for Me: “Diaghilev's love for Nijinsky was as deep and as…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- ‘to touch’

taste, integrity, integrate, attain, taxis, taxonomy, talon, tama, contagion, contaminate, ataxia, tactician, talus, thwack, 29 more

through Proto-Italic *tangō ‘to touch’

tactile, 9 more

through Latin tango ‘to touch, grasp’

contact, tame, contingent, contiguous, tact, tangent, 10 more

Today it means

adj Incapable of being perceived by the senses; incorporeal.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “intangible”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tango. 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 *teh₂g- / intangible

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