1881, from French intransigeant, from Spanish los intransigentes, literally "those not coming to agreement," name for extreme republican party in the Spanish Cortes 1873-4, from in- "not" (see in-(1)) + transigente "compromising," from Latin transigentem (nominative transigens), present participle of transigere "come to an agreement, accomplish, to carry through" (see transaction). Acquired its generalized sense in French.