Etymology

vacillation

V4A1C3I1L1L1A1T1I1O1N1

Today it means: Indecision in speech or action. Full definition →

Middle English vacillacion ← Latin vacillātiō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromvacillātiō“swaying”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromvacillacion
  3. English todayvacillation

From Middle English vacillacion, a learned borrowing from Latin vacillātiō (“swaying”). By surface analysis, vacillate + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.