Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “BASIC” come from?

Basic comes from English base, from Latin basis meaning "foundation" or "step," ultimately denoting the fundamental support or ground of something.

Ancestry of “BASIC”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbasicNecessary, essential for life or some process;...
2English-icUsed to form adjectives from nouns with the...
3EnglishimageAn optical or other representation of a real...
4Frenchimagepicture, image; frame; first-person singular...
5Portugueseimagemimage; picture; figure; image; image; face
6Spanishimagenimage
7Italianimmagineimage; imago
8Latinimāginem—
9Latinim-Alternative form of in-; form of "in"; in
10Latinīn-—
11Latinîn—
12Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
13Proto-Italicenin
14Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “BASIC”

  • BASIC
  • basic
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →