Suspicious
/səˈspɪʃ.əs/noun
Inclined to suspect that something is wrong, false, or dangerous.
Did you know?Suspicious comes from Latin *suspiciōsus*, built from *suspicere* meaning “to look up at, look from below, mistrust,” so the word originally carried a physical sense of upward-looking that later became psychological doubt.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*spek-
“to look, observe”
Latin
Latin
specere
“to look at, behold”
Latin
Latin
suspicere
“to look up at; to mistrust, suspect”
Late Latin
Latin
suspiciosus
“full of mistrust, suspicious”
Old French
Old French
suspicieus
“suspicious, mistrustful”
Middle English
English
suspicious
“causing mistrust; mistrustful”