Etymograph

English

subtility

Subtility comes from Latin subtīlitas ‘fineness, thinness, slenderness, minuteness’, from tēla ‘a web’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- ‘to create, produce’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tetḱ-1‘to create, produce’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tekslā2reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtēla2‘a web’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubtīlis3‘fine, thin, slender’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubtīlitas1‘fineness, thinness, slenderness, minuteness’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600subtilité1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1566subtility1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English subtility
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin subtilis
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin subtilitas
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1566, William Adlington: “And that such their subtility might not be perceived,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tetḱ-Wiktionary, English subtility‘to create, produce’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tekslāWiktionary, Latin subtilisreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtēlaWiktionary, Latin subtilis‘a web’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubtīlisWiktionary, Latin subtilitas‘fine, thin, slender’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubtīlitasWiktionary, English subtility‘fineness, thinness, slenderness, minuteness’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600subtilitéWiktionary, English subtility
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1566subtilityWiktionary, English subtility. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1566, William Adlington: “And that such their subtility might not be perceived,…”

Formed from subtile + -ity

Proto-Italic *tekslā

Latin tēla ‘a web’

Latin subtilis ‘fine, thin, slender, delicate’

English subtile

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *tetḱ- ‘to create, produce’

technical, technique, architecture, arch, textile, pretext, polytechnic, tectonics, technic, tassie, technetium, 14 more

through Latin tēla ‘a web’

tiller, toilette, tela, 6 more

through Latin subtīlis ‘fine, thin, slender’

subtle, subtly, 4 more

through Latin subtīlitas ‘fineness, thinness, slenderness, minuteness’

subtlety

Today it means

noun Cunning, craftiness.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “subtility”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin subtilis, Latin subtilitas. 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 *tetḱ- / subtility

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