Where does “aspiring” come from?
Aspiring comes from Middle English aspiren, from Old French aspirer, from Latin aspirare meaning to breathe upon or towards, from ad- plus spirare.
aspiring (English): Hoping to become; present participle of aspire;...
Definitions
- Hoping to become; present participle of aspire;...
Ancestry of “aspiring”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | aspire | To have a strong desire or ambition to achieve... |
| 2 | Middle English | aspiren | — |
| 3 | Old French | aspirer | — |
| 4 | Latin | aspīrō | to breathe or blow upon |
| 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 |