Etymology

subservient

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Today it means: Useful in an inferior capacity. Full definition →

Latin subserviens ← Proto-Italic *serwiō ← Proto-Indo-European *serweyéti
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Italic*supo
  3. Latinsub
  4. Latinsub-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*ser-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*serwos
  7. Proto-Indo-European*serweyéti
  8. Proto-Italic*serwijeti
  9. Proto-Italic*serwijit
  10. Proto-Italic*serwiō
  11. Latinservio
  12. Latinsubserviō
  13. Latinsubserviens
  14. English todaysubservient

From Latin subserviens, present active of subservio (“to serve under”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.