Where does “appoint” come from?
Appoint comes from Middle English apointen, from Old French apointier, meaning to arrange or settle, derived from Old French pointier, from Old French point meaning a point or detail, ultimately from Latin punctum, the past participle of Latin punctus, from the Proto-Indo-European root pewḱ- meaning to prick or pierce.
appoint (English): To set, fix or determine by authority or...
Definitions
- To set, fix or determine by authority or...
Ancestry of “appoint”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | apointen | — |
| 2 | Old French | apointier | to prepare; to equip; to treat |
| 3 | Old French | pointier | — |
| 4 | Old French | point | a sting; a prick; moment; time; dot |
| 5 | Latin | pūnctum | point |
| 6 | Latin | punctus | pricked, punctured, pierced, having been pricked;... |
| 7 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |