Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “actual” come from?

Actual comes from Anglo-Norman actuel, a word of unknown ultimate origin whose sense development remains unattested in surviving sources.

actual (English): relating to a person's acts or deeds; active,...

Definitions

  1. relating to a person's acts or deeds; active,...

Ancestry of “actual”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishactual—
2Anglo-Normanactuel—
3Old Frenchactual—
4Latinactuālis—
5Latināctus—
6Latinagō—
7Proto-Italicagōdrive; push, impel; do, act
8Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂éǵetito be driving
9Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂eǵ-to drive

Words derived from “actual”

  • actuality
  • actualization
  • actualize
  • actualism
  • actualist
  • nonactual
  • actualizable
  • actualizer
  • reactualize
  • unactual
  • actualness
  • deactualization
  • unactualizable
  • coactualization
  • self-actualization
  • actualizational
  • self-actualize
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₂eǵ- →