English
morbid
Morbid comes from Latin morbidus ‘diseased’, from morbus ‘sickness’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘to rub, pound, wear away’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-1‘to rub, pound, wear away’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorbus1‘sickness’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorbidus1‘diseased’
- Englishearliest quotation 1920morbid1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English morbid
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles: ““Enough to make a man morbid, to be stalked…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-Wiktionary, English morbid‘to rub, pound, wear away’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorbusWiktionary, English morbid‘sickness’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorbidusWiktionary, English morbid‘diseased’
- Englishearliest quotation 1920morbidWiktionary, English morbid. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles: ““Enough to make a man morbid, to be stalked…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘to rub, pound, wear away’
remember, march, murder, marine, nightmare, mere, maritime, marsh, mare, mortality, mara, mortal, muller, mortar, moor, ambrosia, mortuary, marinate, marinara, mort, morn, maar, moribund, cormorant, 61 more
Today it means
adj Of, relating to, or afflicted by disease.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “morbid”. 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 *mer- / morbid