Where does “desperado” come from?
Desperado comes from Spanish desperado, the past participle of desesperado meaning "hopeless," from Latin despero meaning "to lose hope," formed from the prefix de- and Latin dis-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dwís.
desperado (English): A bold outlaw, especially one from southern...
Definitions
- A bold outlaw, especially one from southern...
Ancestry of “desperado”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spanish | desperado | Obsolete form of desesperado |
| 2 | Spanish | desperar | Obsolete form of desesperar |
| 3 | Spanish | desesperar | to despair, exasperate; to despair |
| 4 | Spanish | esperar | to hope for, hope to; to expect, look for; to... |
| 5 | Old Spanish | esperar | to wait for, await |
| 6 | Latin | spērō | to hope, expect |
| 7 | Latin | spes | hope; expectation, anticipation, apprehension |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | spēs | hope |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | spéh₁s | prosperity, success |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | speh₁- | to succeed, to prosper |