late 14c., "formal prohibition; interdiction of legal proceedings by authority;" also, the document setting forth such a prohibition, from Old French inibicion and directly from Latin inhibitionem (nominative inhibitio) "a restraining," from past participle stem of inhibere "to hold in, hold back, keep back," from in- "in, on" (see in-(2)) + habere "to hold" (see habit, n.). Psychological sense of "involuntary check on an expression of an impulse" is from 1876.