Etymology

impasse

im·passe
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Today it means: A road with no exit. Full definition →

First used 1851French impasse ← Latin in- ← Proto-Italic *n̥-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Italic*n̥-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Frenchim-
  6. Frenchpasse
  7. Frenchimpasse
  8. English todayimpasse

Borrowed from French impasse.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 1851 A road with no exit.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.