moribund

The word 'moribund' entered English in the early 18th century, directly from the Latin present participle moribundus, meaning "dying" or "at the point of death." This Latin term is built from the verb mori (to die), a root with deep Proto-Indo-European ancestry related to death and mortality, seen in words like 'mortal' and 'mortuary.' The suffix -bundus adds a sense of being in a state or process. Thus, the literal construction "inclined to die" evolved into its modern abstract meanings, describing not only a person on the verge of death but also any institution or system in a state of terminal stagnation or decay.

Structure: mori (to die) + bund (inclined to) 'mori' is from Latin mori (to die). 'bund' is from the Latin suffix -bundus, meaning "inclined to" or "full of."