Etymograph

English

sensitive

Sensitive comes from Latin sentiō ‘to feel’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sent-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sent-1‘to feel’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sentiō1‘to feel’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsentiō2‘to feel’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500sensitivus3
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600sensitif3
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1624sensitive3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin sentio, which cites LIV
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin sensitivus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English sensitive
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “The sensitive faculty most part overrules reason, the soul…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sent-Wiktionary, Latin sentio, which cites LIV‘to feel’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sentiōWiktionary, Latin sentio, which cites LIV‘to feel’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsentiōWiktionary, Latin sensitivus‘to feel’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500sensitivusWiktionary, English sensitive
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600sensitifWiktionary, English sensitive
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1624sensitiveWiktionary, English sensitive. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1624, Democritus Junior pseudonym; Robert Burt, The Anatomy of Melancholy: […]: “The sensitive faculty most part overrules reason, the soul…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with sensitive, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *sent- ‘to feel’

  • send ← senden ← sendan ← *sandijan ← *sandijaną
  • sith ← sīþ ← *sinþ ← *sinþaz

through Proto-Italic *sentiō ‘to feel, to sense, to perceive’

  • senseless ← sense ← sense ← sens ← *sennus
  • antisense ← sense ← sense ← sens ← *sennus

through Latin sentiō ‘to feel’

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Today it means

adj Having the faculty of sensation; pertaining to the senses.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sensitive”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin sentio, Latin sensitivus. 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 *sent- / sensitive