Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “allowance” come from?

Allowance comes from Old French alouance, derived from Old French -ance combined with Old French allocare, from Latin allocare, formed from Latin ad- and a root from Proto-Indo-European lēw-.

allowance (English): permission; granting, conceding, or admitting;...

Definitions

  1. permission; granting, conceding, or admitting;...

Ancestry of “allowance”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishallouance—
2Old Frenchalouancepayment; permission; instance of allowing
3Old FrenchalouerAlternative form of aloer
4Latinallocō—
5Latinad-to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it...
6Latinīn-—
7Latinîn—
8Latinenlookǃ beholdǃ; reallyǃ?; come onǃ
9Proto-Italicenin
10Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁énin

Words derived from “allowance”

  • disallowance
  • alawens
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₁én →