indelible

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin indēlēbilis (“indelible, imperishable”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from in- (“not”) and dēlēbilis (“able to be destroyed or effaced”), from dēleō (“to destroy, blot out”), the source of delete.^[3][4][6][5] Hoad, the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English also allow French indélébile as the source,^[7][8][9] and the OED compares the French word, recorded from the 16th century.^[2] The English word was first indeleble;^[2][6][7] its ending was later made to match -ible,^[2][7][4][6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Dictionary.com trace the new form to Medieval Latin indēlibilis, a Medieval Latin alteration under the influence of Latin -ibilis.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a stain on character or reputation, that cannot be blotted out: 1529, in Thomas More's Supplycacyon of Soulys.^[2][4] Etymonline and Dictionary.com date the word to the 1520s,^[3][11] but the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the spelling indeleble to the late 15th century,^[8][9] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the 15th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word was used of disgrace and of a mark or character stamped on something before it was used of material marks: More wrote of an indelible stain in 1529 and of an indelible character in 1532, the latter later used of the spiritual character that some Christian churches hold to be conferred by baptism, confirmation and ordination.^[2] Marks, stains and the substances that make them, such as ink, follow from 1579,^[2] and impressions on the mind and feelings from 1615, in a letter of Donne.^[2] From 1645 to 1769 it could also mean, of a title or right, that cannot be annulled.^[2][12] The -eble spelling lasted through the 16th and 17th centuries;^[2] Etymonline dates the change of vowel to the late 17th century,^[3] and Johnson (1755), who spelled it indelible, still noted that it should be written indeleble.^[12]

Timeline

• 1529 – of a stain on character or reputation, that cannot be effaced.^[2][4]
• 1532 – of a mark or character impressed on something.^[2]
• 1579 – of a material mark or stain, or the substance that makes it.^[2]
• 1615 – of an impression on the mind, or a feeling.^[2]
• 1645 – of a title or right, that cannot be annulled (obsolete by 1769).^[2]
• late 17th century – the spelling with -ible replaces indeleble.^[3][2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Impossible to erase, remove or wash away; permanent: an indelible stain on the tablecloth.^[10][13][6]
2. Making marks that cannot be erased or washed out, as indelible ink or an indelible pencil.^[13][6][2]
3. That cannot be forgotten; lasting or memorable: The trip left an indelible impression on the children.^[10][6][9]
4. (obsolete, 1645–1769) Of a right or power, that cannot be annulled.^[2][12]

Word family

• indelibility
• indelibly

Related words

• delete
• delible

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