Where does “chauffeur” come from?
Chauffeur derives from French chauffeur, from French chauffer meaning to heat, ultimately from Latin facio meaning to make or do.
chauffeur (English): A person employed to drive a private motor car or...
Definitions
- A person employed to drive a private motor car or...
Ancestry of “chauffeur”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | chauffeur | stoker; fireman; driver; chauffeur |
| 2 | French | chauffer | to heat, to warm, to warm up; to tease, to entice... |
| 3 | Middle French | chauffer | — |
| 4 | Old French | chauffer | Alternative form of chaufer |
| 5 | Old French | chaufer | to heat; to heat up; to warm |
| 6 | Vulgar Latin | calefare | — |
| 7 | Latin | calefaciō | to warm or heat |
| 8 | Latin | faciō | to do |
| 9 | Latin | -torium | nominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative... |
| 10 | Latin | -tōrius | ory |
| 11 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 12 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |