Etymologically
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impossible

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ɪmˈpɒs.ə.bᵊl/, US /ɪmˈpɑː.sə.bᵊl/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English impossibile,[2] borrowed from Old French impossible,[3][2] and directly from Latin impossibilis (“not possible”),[3][4][5] from in- (“not”) and possibilis (“possible”).[3][2] See possible.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not possible, that cannot be done or exist: before 1300 in the OED,[6] before 1325 in Cursor Mundi in Barnhart (as “unbelievable”),[2] and the late 14th century in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

In mathematics it meant “having no real value, imaginary” from 1673.[6] The weakened sense, “very hard to do or put up with”, of people and situations, is from the mid-19th century,[3] or 1858 in the OED.[6] As a noun, the impossible, “that which seems impossible”, is from 1839.[6] The less common unpossible is also from the late 14th century.[3] Impossibility is from about 1385, and impossibly from about 1410.[2] In northern Yorkshire dialect an impossible being was an oddity.[7]

Timeline

  • before 1300 – not possible.[6]
  • c. 1385 – impossibility.[2]
  • 1673 – in mathematics, imaginary.[6]
  • 1839 – noun, the impossible.[6]
  • 1858 – unreasonable, intolerable.[6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Not able to exist or happen.
  2. Not able to be done: an impossible task.
  3. Very difficult to deal with; intolerable: an impossible child.
  4. Absurd or unacceptable.

Noun

  1. the impossible: something that cannot be done or seems impossible.

Word family

  • impossibly
  • impossibleness
  • impossibility

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)