Where does “appetite” come from?
Appetite comes from Middle English appetit, from Old French apetit, from Latin appetitus, the past participle of appetere meaning to strive toward, derived from the prefix ad- meaning to plus petere meaning to seek.
appetite (English): Desire to eat food or consume drink; Any strong...
Definitions
- Desire to eat food or consume drink; Any strong...
Ancestry of “appetite”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | appetit | — |
| 2 | Old French | apetit | appetite |
| 3 | Latin | appetitus | an attack, assault; passionate desire or longing;... |
| 4 | Latin | appetō | to strive for, reach after (something), try to get |
| 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 |