Etymologically
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incompatible

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Pronunciation

  • /ˌɪŋkəmˈpætɪbəl/, /ˌɪnkəmˈpætɪbəl/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin incompatibilis,[2][3][4][5][6][7] first said of benefices that could not be held together;[2][3] Merriam-Webster and Barnhart also give borrowed from Middle French incompatible as a source,[8][9] a French word recorded from the 15th century.[2] The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and compatibilis, the source of compatible,[3][6][8][9] which the OED explains from the phrase beneficium compatibile, a benefice that can be held along with another,[2] and which comes from Late Latin compatior (“to suffer with”), the source of compassion.[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Not consistent with what has been stated or established: the Middle English Dictionary's first quotation is from a Yorkist text of 1459,[10] the date Barnhart gives.[9] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-15th century,[3] while the OED's first quotation, of persons at variance, is from 1567.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century the word was a term of church law: in 1570 Foxe used it of benefices that could not be held by the same person.[2][3] From 1592, in Samuel Daniel, it meant things that cannot exist together, contrary or inconsistent,[2] the sense Etymonline gives as "mutually intolerant" from the 1590s.[3] Of people unable to get on together it was used from 1567 to 1722,[2] and the noun, an incompatible person or thing, is recorded from before 1711.[2] Johnson (1755) thought the proper form was incompetible, from Latin competō,[11] and the OED notes that the two words were sometimes confused,[2] although its entry for compatible shows that compatible is the older word.[2] Technical senses followed: in pharmacology, of drugs that should not be mixed or given together (1812),[2] and in biology, of plants unable to cross or tissues that are rejected (1904–1905).[2]

Timeline

  • 1459 – not consistent with what has been established.[10][9]
  • 1567 – of people, unable to agree (obsolete by 1722).[2]
  • 1570 – of benefices, unable to be held together.[2]
  • 1592 – unable to exist together; contrary, inconsistent.[2]
  • 1641 – followed by the preposition with.[2]
  • before 1711 – noun, an incompatible person or thing.[2]
  • 1812 – pharmacology, of drugs that should not be combined.[2]
  • 1904 – biology, showing incompatibility.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Unable to exist or work together because of being conflicting or opposed in nature: Their plans were incompatible with the budget.[12][8][13]
  2. Of people, unable to live or work together in harmony.[12][13]
  3. Of drugs or blood types, not able to be combined or given together without a harmful reaction.[12][2]
  4. Of two propositions in logic, unable to be true at the same time.[12][8]
  5. Of offices or positions, unable to be held by one person at the same time.[12][8][2]

Noun

  1. A person or thing that is incompatible, usually in the plural.[8][2]

Word family

  • incompatibleness
  • incompatibly
  • incompatibility
  • self-incompatible

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  10. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin