Etymograph

English

obscure

Obscure comes from Latin obscūrus ‘dark, dusky, indistinct’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- ‘darkness, shadow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ḱeh₃-1‘darkness, shadow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skoiros1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*scūrus1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobscūrus1‘dark, dusky, indistinct’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400obscur1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500obscure1
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597obscure1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English obscure
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “They are all couched in a pit hard by…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ḱeh₃-Wiktionary, English obscure‘darkness, shadow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*skoirosWiktionary, English obscurereconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*scūrusWiktionary, English obscurereconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobscūrusWiktionary, English obscure‘dark, dusky, indistinct’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400obscurWiktionary, English obscure
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500obscureWiktionary, English obscure
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1597obscureWiktionary, English obscure. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “They are all couched in a pit hard by…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- ‘darkness, shadow’

scene, shame, shadow, shade, scenario, squirrel, scenic, scotia, hoar, skene, 31 more

Today it means

adj Dark, faint or indistinct.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “obscure”. 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)ḱeh₃- / obscure

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