Etymology

disable

D2I1S1A1B3L1E1

Today it means: To render unable; to take away an ability of, as by crippling. Full definition →

English able ← Middle English able ← Old French able
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  2. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  3. Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
  4. Proto-Italic*dis-
  5. Latindis-
  6. Old Frenchdes-
  7. Latindis-
  8. Middle Englishdis-
  9. Englishdis-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*gʰeh₁bʰ-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti
  12. Proto-Italic*haβēō
  13. Latinhabeō
  14. Latinhabilis
  15. Old Frenchable
  16. Middle Englishable
  17. Englishable
  18. English todaydisable

From dis- + able.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.