Obese
/oʊˈbiːs/noun
Having an abnormally high amount of body fat.
Did you know?Obese comes from Latin obesus, traditionally connected with obedere, “to eat away,” linking the modern medical term to an ancient metaphor of consumption.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*h₁ed-
“to eat”
Ancient Latin
Latin
edere
“to eat”
Classical Latin
Latin
obedere
“to eat away or consume”
Classical Latin
Latin
obesus
“fat, stout, or plump; traditionally interpreted as “having eaten away””
16th Century
French
obèse
“fat or corpulent”
17th Century
English
obese
“excessively fat”
Modern English
English
obese
“having an abnormally high amount of body fat”