Advertisement
Entries linking to fallibility
fallible (adj.)
early 15c., from Medieval Latin fallibilis "liable to err, deceitful," literally "that can be deceived," from Latin fallere "deceive" (see fail (v.)).
-ity
word-forming element making abstract nouns from adjectives and meaning "condition or quality of being ______," from Middle English -ite, from Old French -ete (Modern French -ité) and directly from Latin -itatem (nominative -itas), suffix denoting state or condition, composed of -i- (from the stem or else a connective) + the common abstract suffix -tas (see -ty (2)).
Roughly, the word in -ity usually means the quality of being what the adjective describes, or concretely an instance of the quality, or collectively all the instances; & the word in -ism means the disposition, or collectively all those who feel it. [Fowler]
Advertisement
Trends of fallibility
adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.
More to Explore
updated on September 28, 2017
Advertisement
Remove ads >
Advertisement