Where does “allow” come from?
Allow comes from Middle English allowen, from Old French alouer, from Latin allocare, meaning to assign or place toward, formed from Latin ad- and a root from Proto-Indo-European lēw-.
allow (English): To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield;...
Definitions
- To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield;...
Ancestry of “allow”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | allowen | — |
| 2 | Old French | alouer | Alternative form of aloer |
| 3 | Latin | allocō | to hire |
| 4 | Latin | ad- | to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it... |
| 5 | Latin | īn- | un-, non-, not |
| 6 | Latin | în | in, at, on, upon, from (space) |
| 7 | Latin | en | lookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | en | in |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁én | in |