Where does “discourage” come from?
Discourage comes from Middle French descourager, formed with the prefix des- and verb root -er, ultimately deriving from Latin -are and -arius, tracing back to Proto-Indo-European dwóh₁.
discourage (English): To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to...
Definitions
- To extinguish the courage of; to dishearten; to...
Ancestry of “discourage”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | descourager | to discourage; to becomes discouraged |
| 2 | Middle French | dés- | de-; dis |
| 3 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 4 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 5 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 6 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |