Where does “deceive” come from?
Deceive comes from Middle English deceyven, from Old French decevoir, from Latin decipere meaning "to ensnare or catch," ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European root keh₂p- meaning "to seize."
deceive (English): To trick or mislead
Definitions
- To trick or mislead
Ancestry of “deceive”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | deceyven | To deceive, trick, or mislead |
| 2 | Anglo-Norman | deceivre | — |
| 3 | Latin | dēcipiō | to catch, ensnare, entrap, deceive, mislead, beguile, elude, cheat |
| 4 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 5 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 6 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 7 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |