entry
quiescent
/ˈkwaɪ.əsənt/inactive, still, or temporarily at rest
From Latin quies (rest).
from Latin quiescentem (nominative quiescens ), present participle of quiescere , inchoative verb formed
+1 more sourcefrom Latin quiescentem (nominative quiescens ), present participle of quiescere , inchoative verb formed
+1 more sourcefrom Latin quiescentem (nominative quiescens ), present participle of quiescere , inchoative verb formed
Word Ancestry
from Latin quiescentem (nominative quiescens ), present participle of quiescere , inchoative verb formed
+1 more sourcefrom Latin quiescentem (nominative quiescens ), present participle of quiescere , inchoative verb formed
+1 more sourcefrom Latin quiescentem (nominative quiescens ), present participle of quiescere , inchoative verb formed
Picture a sixteenth-century reader confronting a written letter that stubbornly refuses to make a sound: English grammarians called it “quiescent,” borrowing Latin’s word for rest. The source was Latin *quiēs*, “quiet” or “repose,” which grew into *quiēscere*, “to become quiet,” and then into *quiēscēns*, “resting.” By the 1640s, the word had escaped the grammar book and begun describing anything temporarily inactive—from a resting mechanism to a dormant process. Its close relative *acquiesce* still preserves the same quiet atmosphere: to acquiesce is, in effect, to settle into agreement rather than make a fight of it. Remember the silent letter: *quiescent* is a word about things that are present, but holding their breath.
The Story
Picture a sixteenth-century reader confronting a written letter that stubbornly refuses to make a sound: English grammarians called it “quiescent,” borrowing Latin’s word for rest. The source was Latin *quiēs*, “quiet” or “repose,” which grew into *quiēscere*, “to become quiet,” and then into *quiēscēns*, “resting.” By the 1640s, the word had escaped the grammar book and begun describing anything temporarily inactive—from a resting mechanism to a dormant process. Its close relative *acquiesce* still preserves the same quiet atmosphere: to acquiesce is, in effect, to settle into agreement rather than make a fight of it. Remember the silent letter: *quiescent* is a word about things that are present, but holding their breath.
Kin & Kindred
From 'quies'·rest, quiet, repose
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary