Numb
/nʌm/noun
Deprived of sensation, feeling, or responsiveness.
Did you know?Numb comes from Old English *numen* (“taken, seized”), the past participle of *niman* (“to take”), so the word originally carried the eerie sense of being “taken” by force.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*nem-
“to take, divide, distribute”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*nemaną
“to take, seize”
Old English
OE
numen
“taken, seized; deprived of sensation”
Middle English
ME
nomb, numb
“deprived of feeling; benumbed”
Modern English
English
numb
“deprived of sensation or emotional responsiveness”