Etymologically
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inevitable

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ (UK); /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin inēvītābilis (“unavoidable”),[2][3][4] from in-, not, and ēvītābilis, avoidable,[2][3] from ēvītāre, to avoid, from ex-, out, and vītāre, to shun, originally to go out of the way.[2][3] Barnhart derives vītāre from a lost adjective *vitus, gone away,[3] while de Vaan connects it rather with invitus, unwilling.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

That cannot be avoided: about 1430 in the OED, about 1443 in Barnhart, the mid-15th century in Etymonline;[5][3][2] MWU dates it to the 14th century.[6]

Semantic evolution

As a noun, the inevitable, that which cannot be avoided, it is from 1850.[5][2] Etymonline quotes Shakerley Marmion's Hide me from her inevitable eyes (1637).[2] Invariably occurring, predictable, is a later sense.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 1430 – unavoidable.[5]
  • 1637 – Marmion's inevitable eyes.[2]
  • 1850 – the inevitable (noun).[5]

Modern meaning

Adjective

  1. Impossible to avoid or prevent; sure to happen.
  2. Always happening or appearing; predictable.

Noun

  1. (the inevitable) Something that cannot be avoided.

Word family

  • inevitability
  • inevitably
  • inevitableness
  • evitable

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin