entry
infinity
/ɪnˈfɪnəti/Boundlessness; endless extent, number, or duration
From Latin infinite (Unbounded) + Greek peira (Trial).
from Latin īnfīnitās (“unlimitedness”)
from Old French infinité "infinity; very large number or quantity" (13c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Old French infinité "infinity; very large number or quantity" (13c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Latin īnfīnitās (“unlimitedness”)
from Old French infinité "infinity; very large number or quantity" (13c.)
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Latin īnfīnitās (“unlimitedness”)
from Old French infinité "infinity; very large number or quantity" (13c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Old French infinité "infinity; very large number or quantity" (13c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Latin īnfīnitās (“unlimitedness”)
from Old French infinité "infinity; very large number or quantity" (13c.)
+1 more sourcePicture a medieval scribe writing an inventory: one item, then another, then another—and suddenly the numbers seem to spill off the page. By the late 14th century, English infinity had arrived through Old French infinité from Latin infinitas, built on finis, “end,” with a negating prefix: literally, “not-endedness.” That same finite family gives us finish and define, so infinity is linguistically what refuses to be finished. Latin infinitas was also used as a translation of Greek apeiria, a word associated with what cannot be bounded or fully grasped; its distant cousin peîra meant a trial or attempt, as in empirical and experiment—the things we test by putting them to work in the world. In mathematics, the symbol ∞ appeared in print in the 17th century, often associated with John Wallis, and it looks like a loop that keeps crossing its own finish line. Remember infinity as “the end that never arrives”: every finis you reach quietly opens another road.
The Story
Picture a medieval scribe writing an inventory: one item, then another, then another—and suddenly the numbers seem to spill off the page. By the late 14th century, English infinity had arrived through Old French infinité from Latin infinitas, built on finis, “end,” with a negating prefix: literally, “not-endedness.” That same finite family gives us finish and define, so infinity is linguistically what refuses to be finished. Latin infinitas was also used as a translation of Greek apeiria, a word associated with what cannot be bounded or fully grasped; its distant cousin peîra meant a trial or attempt, as in empirical and experiment—the things we test by putting them to work in the world. In mathematics, the symbol ∞ appeared in print in the 17th century, often associated with John Wallis, and it looks like a loop that keeps crossing its own finish line. Remember infinity as “the end that never arrives”: every finis you reach quietly opens another road.
Modern Usage
Something that continues for an extremely long time, often humorously
Kin & Kindred
From 'infinite'·Unbounded, unlimited, without an end
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'peira'·Trial, experience; in apeiria, the basis of “boundlessness”
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia