ignominious

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₁nómn̥“name”
2. Latin · derived fromignōminiōsus“disgraced; disgraceful, shameful, ignominious”
3. Middle French · derived fromignominieux
4. Middle English · inherited fromignominious“disgraceful, shameful”
5. English todayignominious

From Late Middle English ignominious (“disgraceful, shameful”), from Middle French ignominieux (modern French ignominieux), or from its etymon Latin ignōminiōsus (“disgraced; disgraceful, shameful, ignominious”), from ignōminia (“disgrace, dishonour, shame, ignominy”) + -ōsus (suffix meaning ‘full of; overly; prone to’ forming adjectives from nouns). Ignōminia is derived from ig- (variant of in- (prefix meaning not) + nōmen (“name; good name, reputation”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (“name”)) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ignominy + -ious (suffix forming adjectives from nouns denoting the presence of a quality in any degree, typically an abundance).

Words from the same roots