imbecillus

Latin

Alternative forms

imbēcillis, inbēcillis, inbēcillus

Etymology

For *imbeccillus, from in- +‎ bacillus, as if "without support, feeble", but Century Dictionary and De Vaan find it "improbable" and "far-fetched".^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /im.beːˈkil.lus/, [ɪmbeːˈkɪlːʲʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /im.beˈt͡ʃil.lus/, [imbeˈt͡ʃilːus]

Adjective

imbēcillus (feminine imbēcilla, neuter imbēcillum, comparative imbēcillior); first/second-declension adjective

weak, feeble
Synonyms: dēbilis, īnfirmus, ēnervis

Antonyms: praevalēns, fortis, validus, strēnuus, compos
cowardly
Antonym: fortis

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
	singular			plural
nominative	imbēcillus	imbēcilla	imbēcillum	imbēcillī	imbēcillae	imbēcilla
genitive	imbēcillī	imbēcillae	imbēcillī	imbēcillōrum	imbēcillārum	imbēcillōrum
dative	imbēcillō	imbēcillae	imbēcillō	imbēcillīs
accusative	imbēcillum	imbēcillam	imbēcillum	imbēcillōs	imbēcillās	imbēcilla
ablative	imbēcillō	imbēcillā	imbēcillō	imbēcillīs
vocative	imbēcille	imbēcilla	imbēcillum	imbēcillī	imbēcillae	imbēcilla

Descendants

→ Catalan: imbècil
→ English: imbecile
→ French: imbécile
- → German: imbezil
  - → Polish: imbecyl
- → Turkish: embesil
→ Italian: imbecille
→ Piedmontese: imbecil
→ Portuguese: imbecil
→ Romanian: imbecil
→ Spanish: imbécil

References

^ Etymonline
^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “imbēcillus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 298–299

“imbecillus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“imbecillus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
imbecillus in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2025), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
imbecillus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Pokorny, Julius (1959) “bak-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 1, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 93

[1] Etymonline

[2] De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “imbēcillus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 298–299

[1]

[2]