Etymograph

English

languish

Languish comes from Latin langueo ‘to be faint, unwell’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg- ‘to tire out, slacken’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)leg-1‘to tire out, slacken’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sl̥né(h₁)g-ti ~ *sln̥(h₁)génti2h₁reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElangueo1as languēre, alteration‘to be faint, unwell’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CElanguīre1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500languysshen1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611languish1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English languish
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin langueo
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “We […] do languish of such diseases.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)leg-Wiktionary, English languish‘to tire out, slacken’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sl̥né(h₁)g-ti ~ *sln̥(h₁)géntiWiktionary, Latin langueoh₁reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElangueoWiktionary, English languishas languēre, alteration‘to be faint, unwell’
  4. Late Latinc. 200–600 CElanguīreWiktionary, English languish
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500languysshenWiktionary, English languish
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1611languishWiktionary, English languish. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “We […] do languish of such diseases.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg- ‘to tire out, slacken’

release, relaxation, relish, slake, 1 more

Today it means

verb To lose strength and become weak; to be in a state of weakness or sickness.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “languish”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin langueo. 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 *(s)leg- / languish

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