obnoxious (English)

Where does "obnoxious" come from?

The English word 'obnoxious' is a learned borrowing from the Latin adjective 'obnoxiōsus', meaning 'subject to someone, under someone’s authority'[1]. The Latin root 'obnoxius' combined the prefix 'ob-', meaning 'against' or 'towards', with 'noxa', meaning 'harm', 'injury', or 'fault'[3]. This underlying noun 'noxa' traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*neḱ-', meaning 'to perish' or 'to disappear'[3]. In English, the suffix '-ous' was added to complete the formation[1]. Over time, the meaning shifted from being vulnerable to harm or subject to authority toward its modern sense of being extremely unpleasant or offensive.

Open questions

The ultimate origin of the root involves the Proto-Indo-European form '*neḱ-' and its suffixed o-grade '*noks-'. [3] [5]

Full etymology tree

obnoxious (English), 'Extremely offensive or unpleasant; very annoying, contemptible, or odious.'
- learned borrowing obnoxiosus (Latin), 'synonym of obnoxius'
  - derived obnoxius (Latin), 'punishable, liable, guilty, referring to:'
    - prefix ob- (Latin), 'towards; against'
    - derived noxa (Latin), 'hurt, harm, injury'
      - inherited *noks- (Proto-Indo-European)
        derived *neḱ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to perish, disappear'
    - suffix -ius (Latin), 'forming adjectives from nouns'
  - suffix -osus (Latin), '-ose, -ous; full of, overly, prone to. Used to form adjectives from nouns.'
- suffix -ous (English), 'Used to form adjectives from nouns, to denote:'

Ancestors

*neḱ- (Proto-Indo-European)
obnoxiosus (Latin)

Descendants and derived words

inobnoxious (English)
obnoxiosity (English)
obnoxiously (English)
obnoxiousness (English)
obnoxity (English)
unobnoxious (English)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris