Where does “amuse” come from?
Amuse comes from Middle English amusen, from Old French amuser, composed of Old French a- (from Latin ad-) and Latin ad, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ád and h₂éd.
amuse (English): To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to...
Definitions
- To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to...
Ancestry of “amuse”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | amusen | to mutter, be astonished, gaze meditatively on |
| 2 | Old French | amuser | to stupefy, waste time, be lost in thought |
| 3 | Old French | a- | indicating movement towards something;... |
| 4 | Latin | ad- | to; usually prefixed to verbs, in which cases it... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | *ad- | — |
Words derived from “amuse”