Subitaneity
/ˌsuːbɪtəˈniːɪti/noun
The quality of happening suddenly or unexpectedly.
Did you know?Subitaneity comes from Latin *subitus* (“sudden”), a word tied to the idea of something that comes on you all at once, and English later dressed it in the abstract ending *-ity*.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*sub-
“under, from below”
Latin
Latin
subitus
“sudden, unexpected; literally “come from below” in the sense of coming on stealthily or all at once”
Late Latin
Latin
subitaneus
“sudden, instantaneous”
Middle French
Old French
subitaineté
“suddenness, abruptness”
16th Century
English
subitaneity
“suddenness; the state of being sudden”
Modern English
English
subitaneity
“the quality of being sudden or abrupt”
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