Where does “adultery” come from?
Adultery comes from Old French adultere, from Latin adulterium, derived from the prefix ad- and adulter, meaning one who commits adultery.
adultery (English): Sexual intercourse by a married person with...
Definitions
- Sexual intercourse by a married person with...
Ancestry of “adultery”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | adultere | violation of conjugal faith |
| 2 | Latin | adulterium | adultery; adulteration, contamination |
| 3 | Latin | adulter | adulterous, unchaste; counterfeit, false;... |
| 4 | Latin | adulterō | to commit adultery (with) |
| 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 |