Where does “describe” come from?
Describe comes from Middle English descriven, from Old French descrivre, from Latin describo, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root de.
describe (English): To represent in words; To represent by drawing;...
Definitions
- To represent in words; To represent by drawing;...
Ancestry of “describe”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | descriven | — |
| 2 | Old French | descrivre | to describe |
| 3 | Latin | dēscrībō | to copy off or transcribe something from the original, write down, write out |
| 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 |