Etymology

oversensitive

O1V4E1R1S1E1N1S1I1T1I1V4E1

Today it means: Having excessive sensitivity; reacting to stimuli too readily; thin-skinned. Full definition →

English sensitive ← Middle English over- ← Old English ofer-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Englishover-
  7. Englishsensitive
  8. English todayoversensitive

From over- + sensitive.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.