invisibility

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin invīsibilitās, recorded in Tertullian,^[2][3][4] from Latin invīsibilis (“unseen, not visible”) and the suffix -itās.^[4][2] The Latin adjective, the source of invisible, is formed from in- (“not”) and vīsibilis (“that may be seen”),^[3] from vīsus, the past participle of videō (“to see”).^[3] The OED compares Middle French invisibleté, recorded by Palsgrave in 1530, and the later French invisibilité of the 17th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The quality or condition of being invisible: 1561, in Thomas Norton's translation of Calvin's Institution of Christian Religion.^[2] Etymonline also dates it to the 1560s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From before 1668 it could also name an invisible thing, in the plural invisibilities.^[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the state of being invisible; imperceptibleness to sight", quoting John Ray on bodies too small to be seen.^[5]

Timeline

• 1561 – the quality or condition of being invisible.^[2][3]
• before 1668 – an invisible thing or being.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The quality or state of being invisible; the condition of not being seen: The magician's cloak promised invisibility.^[4][2]
2. Something invisible.^[4][2]

Related words

• invisible
• visibility
• vision

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.