innumerable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English innumerable,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin innumerābilis (“countless”),^[5][6][7][2] formed from in- (“not”) and numerābilis (“that can be counted”),^[5][6][7][8] from numerō (“to count”),^[6][7][8] from numerus (“a number”),^[6][7] the source of number,^[6][7] which Etymonline takes back to Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to assign, allot; take”).^[6] In the 15th century English also had innoumbrable and innoumberabill, from Old French innombrable; these led by the 16th century to a spelling innumberable, matching number, which the Latinate form displaced in the later 16th century.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Too great to be reckoned, with a singular noun: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt,^[5] where the writer sees þe innumerable uelaȝrede, the countless company.^[2] The Middle English Dictionary dates the passage about 1350,^[2] as does Barnhart;^[7] Etymonline has the mid-14th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was first used with singular nouns, a use the OED says now survives only with host, multitude and similar collectives.^[5] From about 1450 it also went with plural nouns, now the usual construction, and it often follows the noun.^[5][9] From 1535, in Tyndale, it was used on its own, sometimes followed by of, to mean countless numbers.^[5][9] It was often an exaggeration rather than a literal claim,^[5] and the Middle English Dictionary already records it for "numerous, many" and even "rather numerous".^[2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "not to be counted for multitude".^[10]

Timeline

• 1340 – with a singular noun, too great to be counted.^[5]
• c. 1450 – with a plural noun, countless.^[5]
• 1535 – on its own, as a noun, countless numbers.^[5]
• 1796 – on its own with a plural form, innumerables (rare, last recorded 1803).^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Too many to be counted; countless, extremely numerous: innumerable grains of sand.^[11][12][5]
2. Of a group or mass, made up of a vast number: an innumerable host of starlings.^[12][5]

Noun

1. Countless numbers; many.^[9][5]

Word family

• innumerableness
• innumerably
• innumerability

Related words

• innumerate
• number
• numerable
• numerous
• enumerate
• enumerable

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster