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Origin and history of indispensable

indispensable(adj.)

1530s, "not subject to dispensation," from Medieval Latin *indispensabilis, from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + dispensabilis, from Latin dispensare "disburse, administer, distribute (by weight)" (see dispense). Meaning "necessary" is from 1690s. From 17c. into 19c. often spelled indispensible, but modern dictionaries considered this improper.

As a noun, "indispensable thing," from 1794; c. 1800-1810, after French use, it was the name of a type of pocket bag worn by women. indispensables (1820) also was one of the many 1820s jocular euphemisms for "trousers" (see inexpressible). Related: Indispensably.

also from 1530s

Entries linking to indispensable

dispense(v.)

mid-14c., dispensen, "to dispose of, deal or divide out," from Old French dispenser "give out" (13c.), from Latin dispensare "disburse, administer, distribute (by weight)," frequentative of dispendere "pay out," from dis- "out" (see dis-) + pendere "to hang, cause to hang; weigh; pay" (from PIE root *(s)pen- "to draw, stretch, spin").

In Medieval Latin, dispendere was used in the ecclesiastical sense of "grant licence to do what is forbidden or omit what is required" (a power of popes, bishops, etc.), and thus acquired a sense of "grant remission from punishment or exemption from law," hence the use of the English verb in the senses "to do away with" (1570s), "do without" (c. 1600). The older sense is preserved in dispensary. Related: Dispensed; dispensing.

inexpressible(adj.)

1620s, from in- (1) "not" + expressible (see express (v.)). Inexpressibles "trousers" is from 1790. Related: Inexpressibly.

I have retain'd the word BREECHES, as they are known by no other name amongst country folk.—The change from vulgarity to refinement, in cities and towns, has introduced other appellations; there they are generally called SMALL CLOTHES, but some ladies of high rank and extreme delicacy call them INEXPRESSIBLES. [footnote in "Poems Miscellaneous and Humorous," by Edward Nairne, Canterbury, 1791]

Inexpressibles is the earliest recorded and thus seems to have begotten the trend. It was followed by unmentionables (1806); indispensibles (1820); ineffables (1823); unutterables (1826); innominables (1827); inexplicables (1829); unimaginables (1833), and unprintables (1860).