English
obtusity
Obtusity comes from Latin obtusitas, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd- ‘to push, to hit’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewd-1‘to push, to hit’root named by Wiktionary
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobtusitas1
- Englishearliest quotation 1848obtusity1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English obtusity
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1848, Vanity Fair--and Jane Eyre: “Some ladies would have thought it high time to…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewd-Wiktionary, English obtusity‘to push, to hit’root named by Wiktionary
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEobtusitasWiktionary, English obtusity
- Englishearliest quotation 1848obtusityWiktionary, English obtusity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1848, Vanity Fair--and Jane Eyre: “Some ladies would have thought it high time to…”
Formed from obtuse + -ity
Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd- ‘to push, to hit’
Latin tundō ‘to beat, strike’
Latin obtundō ‘to batter, beat, strike’
Latin obtūsus ‘blunt, dull’
Middle English obtuse
English obtuse
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd- ‘to push, to hit’
Today it means
noun obtuseness
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “obtusity”. 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)tewd- / obtusity