Where does “charity” come from?
Charity comes from Middle English charite, from Old French charité, from Latin caritas (abstract noun formed with the suffix -tas from kāro-, meaning "dear" or "precious"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European keh₂ros with the adjective-forming suffix -tós.
charity (English): An organization, the objective of which is to...
Definitions
- An organization, the objective of which is to...
Ancestry of “charity”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | charite | — |
| 2 | Old French | charité | generosity; sense of charity; charitable... |
| 3 | Latin | cāritās | dearness |
| 4 | Latin | -tās | ty, -dom, -hood, -ness, -ship |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ts | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -teh₂ | Used to form nouns representing state of being |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -tós | Creates verbal adjectives from verb stems |