Where does “desertification” come from?
Desertification derives from English desert, which comes from French déserter, Old French desert, Latin desertus meaning "abandoned," from Latin deservire meaning "to abandon," composed of the prefix de- and Latin servire meaning "to serve."
desertification (English): Process by which a geographic region becomes a...
Definitions
- Process by which a geographic region becomes a...
Ancestry of “desertification”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | desert | That which is deserved or merited; a just... |
| 2 | Middle English | desert | The situation of deserving something; That which... |
| 3 | Old French | desert | desert |
| 4 | Latin | dēsertum | — |
| 5 | Latin | dēsertus | — |
| 6 | Latin | dēserō | — |
| 7 | Latin | dē- | — |
| 8 | Latin | dē | — |
| 9 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 10 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | posti | — |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | — |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |
Words derived from “desertification”