Where does “creature” come from?
Creature comes from Middle English creature, from Old French creator, from Latin creator (one who creates), derived from the past participle creatus and the agentive suffix -or, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱer- (to make or create).
creature (English): A living being; an animal; A human; A created...
Definitions
- A living being; an animal; A human; A created...
Ancestry of “creature”, step by step
creature traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English create
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | create | To bring into existence |
| 2 | Middle English | createn | To make, invent, or create; To grant or bestow a... |
| 3 | Latin | creātus | created, having been created, made, having been made, produced, having been produced |
| 4 | Latin | creō | to create, to give existence to, to form, to make, to produce, to originate out of other materials or out of nihility (transitively) |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱer- | to grow, to make grow, to nourish; to plait,... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | kr̥- | to turn, to bend |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ker- | army |