Wordwyrt

insidious

/ˌɪnˈsɪˌdiəs/in-SIH-dee-uhs
/ˌɪnˈsɪˌdiəs/in-SIH-dee-uhs

Meaningcunning, deceitful

Common meaning: harmful by stealth

‘in, into’ + ‘to sit’ → insidious

Journey through time

  • in — Latin in- “in, into; upon” (path traced)
  • sidious — Latin sedeō, sēdī, sessum “to sit; to stay” (path traced)

Parts join in Latin as insidiosus.

  1. Latinin- + sedere‘in, into; upon + to sit; to stay’source
  2. Latininsidiosus‘cunning, deceitful’source
  3. Frenchinsidieuxsource
  4. Englishmeaning shiftscunning, deceitful → harmful by stealthinsidious‘harmful by stealth’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin insidiosus, which Skeat analyses as in- ‘in, into; upon’ + sedere ‘to sit; to stay’.

Roots

Related words

assiduousnonresidentpresidereassessreassessmentreside

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