Immense
/ɪˈmɛns/noun
Extremely large or great in size, amount, or degree.
Did you know?Immense comes from Latin roots meaning “not measured,” and its ancestor mētīrī is the same ancient word-family behind modern English words tied to measuring and surveying, turning size into a kind of linguistic threshold.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*me-
“to measure”
Latin
Latin
mētīrī
“to measure”
Latin
Latin
immēnsus
“not measured; immeasurable”
Old French
Old French
immense
“immeasurable, vast”
Late Middle English
English
immense
“vast, boundless”
Modern English
English
immense
“extremely large or great”