Vulnerable is ultimately derived from the Latin noun
vulnus ("wound").
Vulnus led to the Latin verb
vulnerare, meaning "to wound," and then to the Late Latin adjective
vulnerabilis, which became
vulnerable in English in the early 1600s.
Vulnerable
originally meant "capable of being physically wounded" or "having the
power to wound" (the latter is now obsolete), but since the late 1600s,
it
has also been used figuratively to suggest a defenselessness against
non-physical attacks. In other words, someone (or something) can be
vulnerable to criticism or failure as well as to literal wounding. When
it is used figuratively,
vulnerable is often followed by the preposition
to.
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