incommensurable (adj.)
"having no common measure," 1550s, from French incommensurable (14c.) or directly from Medieval Latin incommensurabilis, from in- "not, opposite of, without" (see in- (1)) + Late Latin commensurabilis, from Latin com "with, together" (see com-) + mensurabilis "measurable," from mensurare "to measure," from Latin mensura "a measuring, a measurement; thing to measure by," from mensus, past participle of metiri "to measure" (from PIE root *me- (2) "to measure"). Related: Incommensurably.
Entries linking to incommensurable
In Old French and Middle English often en-, but most of these forms have not survived in Modern English, and the few that do (enemy, for instance) no longer are felt as negative. The rule of thumb in English has been to use in- with obviously Latin elements, un- with native or nativized ones.
word-forming element usually meaning "with, together," from Latin com, archaic form of classical Latin cum "together, together with, in combination," from PIE *kom- "beside, near, by, with" (compare Old English ge-, German ge-). The prefix in Latin sometimes was used as an intensive.
Before vowels and aspirates, it is reduced to co-; before -g-, it is assimilated to cog- or con-; before -l-, assimilated to col-; before -r-, assimilated to cor-; before -c-, -d-, -j-, -n-, -q-, -s-, -t-, and -v-, it is assimilated to con-, which was so frequent that it often was used as the normal form.
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Dictionary entries near incommensurable
incohesive
incombustible
income
incoming
incommensurability
incommensurable
incommensurate
incommodious
incommodity
incommunicability
incommunicable
