Etymology

astable

A1S1T1A1B3L1E1

Today it means: Not stable. Full definition →

English stable ← Middle English stable ← Anglo-Norman stabe
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*ə-
  4. Ancient Greekἀ- (a-)
  5. Englisha-
  6. Latinstabili
  7. Old Frenchestable
  8. Anglo-Normanstabe
  9. Middle Englishstable
  10. Englishstable
  11. English todayastable

From a- + stable. Piecewise doublet of unstable and instable.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.