entry
incest
/ˈɪn.sɛst/Sexual relations between close relatives
From Latin in- (not) + Latin castus (pure).
from Latin incestus. Displaced Old English mǣġhǣmed (literally “relative-sex”). Doublet of inchaste. ===...
from Latin incestus. Displaced Old English mǣġhǣmed (literally “relative-sex”). Doublet of inchaste. ===...
from Old French inceste "incest; lechery, fornication," and directly
from Old French inceste "incest; lechery, fornication," and directly
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Latin incestus. Displaced Old English mǣġhǣmed (literally “relative-sex”). Doublet of inchaste. ===...
from Latin incestus. Displaced Old English mǣġhǣmed (literally “relative-sex”). Doublet of inchaste. ===...
from Old French inceste "incest; lechery, fornication," and directly
from Old French inceste "incest; lechery, fornication," and directly
+1 more sourceThis is one of those words where Latin does the moral arithmetic for you: take castus, “pure,” slap on in-, “not,” and you get incestus, the filthy opposite of the chaste ideal Romans prized. The same purity-idea gave English chaste, chastity, and even the social word caste, so the family resemblance is a little eerie: a whole cluster built around who belongs where and who stays clean. English didn’t invent a new taboo word from scratch; it borrowed Old French inceste around 1200, and the older Anglo-Saxons had their own blunt term, sibleger, literally “kin-lying.” That’s wonderfully raw compared with the polished Latin version, which sounds like it came from a senator’s desk instead of a kitchen table. By the time the word settled in English, it carried not just a legal accusation but a whole Roman worry about purity, inheritance, and the boundaries of the household — one tiny prefix turning “pure” into a social catastrophe.
The Story
This is one of those words where Latin does the moral arithmetic for you: take castus, “pure,” slap on in-, “not,” and you get incestus, the filthy opposite of the chaste ideal Romans prized. The same purity-idea gave English chaste, chastity, and even the social word caste, so the family resemblance is a little eerie: a whole cluster built around who belongs where and who stays clean. English didn’t invent a new taboo word from scratch; it borrowed Old French inceste around 1200, and the older Anglo-Saxons had their own blunt term, sibleger, literally “kin-lying.” That’s wonderfully raw compared with the polished Latin version, which sounds like it came from a senator’s desk instead of a kitchen table. By the time the word settled in English, it carried not just a legal accusation but a whole Roman worry about purity, inheritance, and the boundaries of the household — one tiny prefix turning “pure” into a social catastrophe.
Kin & Kindred
From 'in-'·not, without
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'castus'·pure, chaste, morally clean
Derived Terms
English words from this root