The story
- Latin · derived fromātra bīlis“black bile”
- English todayatrabilious
From Latin ātra bīlis (“black bile”) (āter (“dark, black”) + bīlis (“bile”)) + -ous (“full of”), referring to the humour which ancient Hippocratic and later Galenic medicine associated with sadness and despondency.
Words from the same roots
Latinātra bīlis all →
atrabilarianatrabiliaryblack bile
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.