immeuble (French)

Where does "immeuble" come from?

The French noun 'immeuble' was inherited from Old French 'immeuble'[1], which was borrowed from Latin 'immobilis', meaning 'that which is immovable'[1]. This Latin term was formed from the prefix 'in-' combined with 'mōbilis'[2], meaning 'movable', which traces back through Proto-Italic to the Proto-Indo-European root '*m(y)ewh₁-' meaning 'to move'[4]. The French form was also adapted to match the ending of 'meuble'[1], its antonym representing movable possessions[6]. As a doublet of 'immobile', 'immeuble' developed a legal sense in juridical Latin for immovable property before coming to mean a building or apartment building.

Full etymology tree

immeuble (French), 'building'
- inherited immeuble (Old French)
  - borrowed immobilis (Latin), 'immobile, immovable'
    - prefix in- (Latin), 'un-, non-, not'
    - compound mobilis (Latin), 'movable, loose'
      - derived *moubilis (Latin)
        derived *moweðlis (Proto-Italic)
        compound moveo (Latin), 'to move, stir, set in motion'
        inherited *moweō (Proto-Italic), 'to move'
        inherited *m(y)ewh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to move'
        compound -bilis (Latin), '-(a)ble; used to form an adjective, usually from a verb, indicating a capacity or worth of being acted upon.'
- influenced by meuble (French), 'piece of furniture'

Ancestors

immobilis (Latin)

Cognates and doublets

immobile (French)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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