English
intervenient
Intervenient comes from Latin interveniō ‘to intervene, come between’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷem-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷem-1‘to come, to step’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷm̥yéti1‘to come’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷəniō1‘to come’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEveniō1‘come’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinterveniō2as intervenīre, present participle stem‘to intervene, come between’
- Englishearliest quotation 1891intervenient2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin intervenio
- 2 Wiktionary, English intervenient
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country: “The massive slopes rose on every hand; from deep…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷem-Wiktionary, Latin intervenio‘to come, to step’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷm̥yétiWiktionary, Latin intervenio‘to come’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷəniōWiktionary, Latin intervenio‘to come’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEveniōWiktionary, Latin intervenio‘come’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinterveniōWiktionary, English intervenientas intervenīre, present participle stem‘to intervene, come between’
- Englishearliest quotation 1891intervenientWiktionary, English intervenient. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country: “The massive slopes rose on every hand; from deep…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- ‘to come, to step’
come, coming, base, basic, basis, revenue, bass, cum, venue, pug, contravention, quim, 54 more
through Proto-Indo-European *gʷm̥yéti ‘to come’
through Proto-Italic *gʷəniō ‘to come’
convenience, misadventure, 21 more
through Latin veniō ‘come’
event, avenue, convention, adventure, inventory, advent, inventor, souvenir, invent, provenance, convene, revenant, circumvention, contravene, 22 more
through Latin interveniō ‘to intervene, come between’
Today it means
adj Being only in between other more important things; secondary, incidental.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “intervenient”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin intervenio. 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 *gʷem- / intervenient