impeccable

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin impeccābilis (“not liable to sin”),^[2][3][4] and probably also borrowed from Middle French impeccable, recorded from the 15th century.^[5][3][2] The Latin word is formed from in- (“not”) and peccō (“to sin”), with the suffix -bilis.^[6][7][8] Barnhart calls the verb of uncertain origin and suggests that it may first have meant "to stumble", from a lost adjective meaning "having a defective foot", from pēs (“foot”);^[5] the American Heritage Dictionary likewise refers it to Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot”).^[6] The same verb is the source of peccadillo and peccant.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not capable of sin: 1531, in a letter of Hugh Latimer,^[2][5] who wrote that although the Virgin never sinned, she was not so impeccable that she could not have sinned.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a term of theology, of a person who cannot sin.^[2][10] From 1620, in Bishop Joseph Hall, it was applied to things in the sense "faultless, unerring",^[2][5] and this secular sense has become the usual one, while Collins now labels the theological sense rare.^[4] Johnson (1755) knew only "exempt from possibility of sin".^[11] A noun, an impeccable person, is recorded from 1748, in Richardson's Clarissa.^[2]

Timeline

• 1531 – of a person, not capable of sin.^[2][5][7]
• 1620 – of things, faultless, unerring.^[2][5]
• 1748 – noun, a person who is impeccable.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Free from fault or error; flawless: Her French accent was impeccable.^[7][4][2]
2. Free from blame; irreproachable: a witness of impeccable character.^[7]
3. (rare) Not capable of sin or wrongdoing.^[4][7][2]

Word family

• impeccability
• impeccably

Related words

• peccable
• peccant
• impeccant
• peccadillo

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.