Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “amusement” come from?

Amusement comes from French amusement, formed from the French verb amuser with the suffix -ment, ultimately derived from Latin ad- and -mentum.

amusement (English): Entertainment; An activity that is entertaining...

Definitions

  1. Entertainment; An activity that is entertaining...

Ancestry of “amusement”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchamusementamusement
2French-mentUsed to form adverbs , most of the time...
3Middle French-mentUsed to form adverbs, most of the time equivalent...
4Old French-mentUsed to form adverbs, most of the time equivalent...
5Latin-mentuminstrument, medium, or result of; e.g....
6Latin-mentanominative plural of -mentum; accusative plural...
7Proto-Indo-European-mn̥Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -mn̥ →