inseparable

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English inseparable,^[2] borrowed from Latin insēparābilis (“that cannot be separated”),^{[3][4][2][5][6]} formed from in- (“not”) and sēparābilis (“separable”),^[3][4][5] from sēparō (“to pull apart”).^[4] The OED compares French inséparable, recorded in the 14th and 15th centuries,^[3] and Johnson gave both the French and the Latin word as its source.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Impossible to separate: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew de Glanville, where joined gold and silver form a union that is inseparable.^[2][3] Barnhart dates the word probably to 1348,^[5] Etymonline to the mid-14th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first described two or more things joined so that they cannot be parted (1398), then one thing that cannot be separated from another, construed with from (about 1504).^[3] In logic, an inseparable accident was a quality that cannot be removed from its subject (1551),^[3] and grammar uses the word of a prefix that never stands as a word by itself, such as un-.^[8][9] Of people, it describes close friends who are always together, and the plural noun inseparables, inseparable companions, is recorded from about 1520.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1398 – impossible to separate, of things joined together.^[2][3]
• c. 1504 – of one thing that cannot be separated from another.^[3]
• c. 1520 – noun, usually plural, inseparable companions.^[3]
• 1551 – inseparable accident, in logic.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Impossible to separate or divide: For him, work and pleasure were inseparable.^[10][8][3]
2. Of people, always together; very close: The two cousins were inseparable as children.^[8][10]
3. (grammar) Of a prefix, always attached to a word or stem and never used alone.^[8][9]

Noun

1. Someone or something that cannot be separated from another, usually in the plural.^[8][3]

Word family

• inseparability
• inseparably
• inseparableness

Related words

• separable
• separate
• sever
• pare
• prepare

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 f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins