Etymology Explorer › English

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

  1. To set, fix or determine by authority or...

Ancestry of “appoint”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishapointen—
2Old Frenchapointierto prepare; to equip; to treat
3Old Frenchpointier—
4Old Frenchpointa sting; a prick; moment; time; dot
5Latinpūnctum—
6Latinpunctuspricked, punctured, pierced, having been pricked;...
7Latin-tusForms the past participle of verbs; Forms...
8Proto-Italic-tus—
9Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “appoint”

  • appointive
  • reappoint
  • appointor
  • appointeth
  • appointer
  • appointable
  • appointest
  • preappoint
  • foreappoint
  • reappointee
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →