- impertinent
- late 14c., "unconnected, unrelated," from L.L. impertinentem (nom. impertinens) "not belonging," lit. "not to the point," from L. in- "not" + pertinens (see pertinent). Sense of "rudely bold" is 1680s, probably modeled on similar use in French, especially by Molière, from notion of meddling with what is beyond one's proper sphere.