Etymograph

English

terrible

Terrible comes from Old French terrible, from Latin terribilis ‘frightful’, from terreō ‘to frighten’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tres- ‘to tremble’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tres-1‘to tremble’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*troséyeti1‘to make scared’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*trozeō1‘to frighten’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterreō1‘to frighten’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterribilis1‘frightful’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400terrible1
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500terrible1
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1881–1882terrible1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English terrible
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island: “[…]and there was even a party of the younger…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tres-Wiktionary, English terrible‘to tremble’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*troséyetiWiktionary, English terrible‘to make scared’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*trozeōWiktionary, English terrible‘to frighten’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterreōWiktionary, English terrible‘to frighten’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterribilisWiktionary, English terrible‘frightful’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400terribleWiktionary, English terrible
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500terribleWiktionary, English terrible
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1881–1882terribleWiktionary, English terrible. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island: “[…]and there was even a party of the younger…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Italic *trozeō ‘to frighten, scare, terrify’

  • terrorism ← terrorisme ← terreur ← terreur ← terreur

through Latin terreō ‘to frighten, terrify, alarm’

  • terrorist ← terror ← terrour ← terreur ← terreur
  • terror ← terrour ← terreur ← terreur

11 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj Dreadful; causing terror, alarm and fear; awesome

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “terrible”. 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 *tres- / terrible