Where does “acquire” come from?
Acquire comes from Middle English acqueren, from Old French aquerre, from Latin acquiro, formed from the prefix ad- meaning "to" and a root ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂éd.
acquire (English): To get; To gain, usually by one's own exertions;...
Definitions
- To get; To gain, usually by one's own exertions;...
Ancestry of “acquire”, step by step
acquire traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French acquérir
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | acquérir | to acquire, to obtain; to purchase; to gain, to... |
| 2 | Middle French | acquerir | to acquire |
| 3 | Old French | aquerre | to acquire |
| 4 | Latin | acquīrō | to acquire or obtain |
| 5 | Latin | ad- | to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it... |
| 6 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 7 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 8 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |
via Middle English acqueren
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | acqueren | To acquire |