Etymograph

English

inutile

Inutile comes from Middle French inutile ‘useless’, from Latin ūtilis ‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable,…’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃eyt- ‘to take along, fetch’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃eyt-1‘to take along, fetch’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oitōr2‘to use, employ’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtor3‘use’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtilis4‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable, advantageous’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinutilis5‘useless, unserviceable, unprofitable’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inutile5‘useless’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1627inutile5

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *oitōr
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin utor
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin utilis
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Latin inutilis
  5. 5 Wiktionary, English inutile
  6. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1627, (please specify the page, or |century=I to X): “wormwood, and the like, […]dissipate and digest any inutile…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃eyt-Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *oitōr‘to take along, fetch’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*oitōrWiktionary, Latin utor‘to use, employ’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtorWiktionary, Latin utilis‘use’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEūtilisWiktionary, Latin inutilis‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable, advantageous’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinutilisWiktionary, English inutile‘useless, unserviceable, unprofitable’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inutileWiktionary, English inutile‘useless’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1627inutileWiktionary, English inutile. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1627, (please specify the page, or |century=I to X): “wormwood, and the like, […]dissipate and digest any inutile…”

The story

Philippine usage is likely from Tagalog inutil, from Spanish inútil, from the same source.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃eyt- ‘to take along, fetch’

usual, 6 more

through Latin ūtor ‘use’

use, useless, usable, 6 more

through Latin ūtilis ‘useful, serviceable, beneficial, profitable,…’

utilize, utilization, utilise, utilisation, 2 more

Today it means

adj useless; unprofitable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “inutile”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *oitōr, Latin utor, Latin utilis, Latin inutilis. 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 *h₃eyt- / inutile

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