Etymograph

English

invict

Invict comes from Latin invictus ‘invincible, undisputed, undefeated’, from victus ‘conquered, vanquished, subdued, defeated,…’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to overcome’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-1‘to overcome’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*winékti ~ *winkénti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*winkō1‘to conquer, overcome’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvincō2‘conquer’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvictus2‘conquered, vanquished, subdued, defeated, having been conquered, vanquished, etc’perfect passive participle of vincō
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvictus3‘invincible, undisputed, undefeated’
  7. Englishtodayinvict3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vinco
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin invictus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English invict

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-Wiktionary, Latin vinco‘to overcome’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*winékti ~ *winkéntiWiktionary, Latin vincoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*winkōWiktionary, Latin vinco‘to conquer, overcome’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvincōWiktionary, Latin invictus‘conquer’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvictusWiktionary, Latin invictus‘conquered, vanquished, subdued, defeated, having been conquered, vanquished, etc’perfect passive participle of vincō
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinvictusWiktionary, English invict‘invincible, undisputed, undefeated’
  7. EnglishtodayinvictWiktionary, English invict

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to overcome’

weakness, witch, province, iconic, icon, victim, wicked, wo, victor, wight, weakly, vicar, wile, ancona, waw, 30 more

through Latin vincō ‘conquer’

victory, convince, conviction, victorious, invincible, eviction, convict, vanquish, evict, 8 more

Today it means

adj Unconquered; unsubdued.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “invict”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin vinco, Latin invictus. 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 *weyk- / invict

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