impede

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin impediō (“to entangle, shackle the feet; to hinder”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} formed from in- (“in, on”) and pēs (“foot”),^[2][8][9][7] from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot”), the root of foot.^[8][3][7] Barnhart takes the English verb as probably a back-formation from the much older impediment, influenced by the Latin verb and in some uses borrowed from it,^[9][10] and Etymonline leaves both explanations open.^[8] Impediment, recorded before 1400, is from impedīmentum (“hindrance”), from the same verb.^[9][6][11] Klein instead explains the Latin verb as "to put the feet into fetters", from a noun *pedis (“fetter”), related to pedica (“shackle”) and compēs (“fetter”) and cognate with Ancient Greek πέδη (pédē, “fetter”).^[12] The Oxford Dictionary of English compares impeach.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To hinder or obstruct: Merriam-Webster dates the first use to about 1595,^[7] Dictionary.com to 1595–1605 and the Shorter Oxford to the late 16th century.^[14][15] The first quotation in the OED and Barnhart is from Shakespeare's Macbeth, which Barnhart dates 1605 and the OED to before 1616 (printed 1623);^[2][9] Weekley too says the word is first found in Shakespeare.^[11]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed close to the Latin figure of shackled feet: to slow something down or stand in its way.^[2][15] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to hinder; to let; to obstruct".^[16] In astrology it was used from 1819 in the sense of impedite, of a planet weakened by another.^[2] A noun impede, hindrance, is recorded only in 1659.^[2] The electrical term impedance was formed from the verb in the 19th century,^[6] and the plural impedimenta, baggage that slows an army, was taken from Latin in 1600.^[9][6]

Timeline

• c. 1595 – to hinder, obstruct.^[7] The OED's first quotation is from Macbeth (before 1616), which Barnhart dates 1605.^[2][9]
• 1659 – noun, hindrance (recorded only this once).^[2]
• 1819 – in astrology, to impedite.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To slow down or get in the way of the progress of; to hinder or obstruct: Fallen trees impeded the rescue teams.^{[7][4][2][15]}

Word family

• impeder
• impedible
• impedingly
• impedance
• unimpeded

Related words

• expedite
• impediment
• impeach
• impedimenta
• pedal
• foot
• fetter

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
15. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.