inhibit

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English inhibiten,^[2][3][4][5] borrowed from Latin inhibitus, the past participle of inhibeō (“to hold in, hold back, restrain, hinder”),^{[2][6][3][7][5][8]} from in- (“in, on”) and habeō (“to have, hold”),^[6][4][7][9] with the Latin vowel weakened to i in the compound.^[5] The American Heritage Dictionary and Etymonline trace the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *ghabh- (“to give or receive”), the root of give.^[4][6][3] Etymonline and Barnhart also see the English verb as a back-formation from inhibition, which is recorded earlier, as inhibicioun, before 1387 in Trevisa's translation of Higden's chronicle.^[6][10] The OED compares Old French inhibir (later inhiber), Spanish inhibir and Italian inibire.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To forbid someone to do something: in the Paston letters of 1425, of a man who said that he and his clerks had been forbidden by the court of Rome to act in the matter.^[2] Barnhart dates the verb probably before 1425,^[10] and the OED's first quotation is from Capgrave's chronicle, before 1464.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The verb began as a term of church law: Hoad and Weekley define the first sense as to forbid or interdict,^[11][12] and after 1531 it was used specifically of forbidding a cleric to exercise his office.^[7][8] The softer sense "to restrain, check, hinder" appears in Coverdale's Bible of 1535,^[7][6][10] and by Johnson's time it stood first: his dictionary (1755) defines the word as to restrain, hinder, repress or check, and only second as to prohibit.^[13] The psychological sense, of a mental process holding back an impulse or action, is recorded from 1876, in William James, and was extended from the sense of restraining.^[7][6] In the 20th century it became a technical word of chemistry and biology for slowing or stopping a reaction or a process,^[14][8] and of electronics for blocking a signal or an operation.^[14] The older sense "to forbid a thing" is now rare.^[7]

Timeline

• 1425 – to forbid a person to do something.^[2][10]
• before 1513 – to forbid or prohibit a thing or practice.^[7]
• 1531 – to forbid a cleric to exercise his functions.^[7][8]
• 1535 – to restrain, check, hinder.^[7][6][10]
• 1755 – Johnson gives "to restrain" first and "to prohibit" second.^[13]
• 1876 – in psychology, to hold back an impulse or action.^[7][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To hold back or restrain an impulse, feeling or action, especially through shyness or inner conflict: Fear of mistakes inhibited her from speaking up in class.^[3][14][8]
2. To slow down, prevent or stop a process, such as a chemical reaction or the growth of an organism.^[14][8]
3. To forbid or prohibit; to prevent someone from doing something.^[3][14][7]
4. (ecclesiastical law) To forbid a cleric to exercise his clerical functions.^[7][8]
5. (electronics) To prevent a signal from occurring, or an operation from being performed, in a circuit.^[14]

Word family

• inhibitable
• inhibitive
• inhibitory
• inhibiter
• disinhibit

Related words

• exhibit
• exhibition
• inhibition
• inhibitor
• prohibit
• habit
• give

References

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