English
nervous
Nervous comes from Middle English nervous, from Latin nervōsus ‘sinewy’, from nervus ‘sinew, nerve’, ultimately from PIE *snéh₁wr̥ ‘sinew’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snéh₁wr̥1‘sinew, tendon’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnervus1‘nerve; sinew’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnervōsus1‘sinewy; vigorous’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nervous1‘composed of nerves’
- Englishearliest quotation 1663nervous1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English nervous
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1663, Edward Waterhous, Fortescutus Illustratus […]: “Fortescutus illustratus, or a commentary on that nervous treatise…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snéh₁wr̥Wiktionary, English nervous‘sinew, tendon’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnervusWiktionary, English nervous‘nerve; sinew’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnervōsusWiktionary, English nervous‘sinewy; vigorous’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500nervousWiktionary, English nervous‘composed of nerves’
- Englishearliest quotation 1663nervousWiktionary, English nervous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1663, Edward Waterhous, Fortescutus Illustratus […]: “Fortescutus illustratus, or a commentary on that nervous treatise…”
The story
From Middle English nervous (‘composed of or incorporating nerves’), from Latin nervōsus (‘nervous; sinewy; energetic, vigorous’), from nervus (‘nerve; muscle; sinew, tendon; (figuratively) energy, power; nerve; force, strength, vigour’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ (‘sinew, tendon’)) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of, prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). The English word is analysable as nerve + -ous.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with nervous, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- ‘to twist threads, spin, weave’
through Proto-Indo-European *snéh₁wr̥ ‘sinew, tendon’
- sinew ← synwe ← sinu ← *sinu ← *sinwō
through Latin nervus ‘nerve’
14 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Full of sinews.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “nervous”. 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 *snéh₁wr̥ / nervous