absurd

The word 'absurd' entered English in the mid-16th century from the Latin 'absurdus', meaning 'out of tune, ridiculous'. This Latin term itself is a compound of 'ab-' (meaning 'away from, off') and 'surdus' (meaning 'deaf, dull, mute'). The original sense was acoustically metaphorical: something that was 'offensively deafening' or 'harsh-sounding'. Through philosophical and rhetorical use, particularly in Latin texts discussing irrational arguments, the meaning evolved from a sensory description of discordant sound to an intellectual judgment of something being wildly out of harmony with reason or sense, hence 'ridiculously inappropriate'.

This word is a loanword from Latin, adopted as a whole unit into English. It is not productively formed from separable English morphemes.