Where does “élite” come from?
Elite comes from French élit, the past participle of French élire, meaning to choose or select, derived from Latin electus, the past participle of Latin legere, meaning to gather or pick out.
élite (English): Alternative spelling of elite
Definitions
- Alternative spelling of elite
Ancestry of “élite”, step by step
élite traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French élite
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | élite | elite |
| 2 | French | élit | third-person singular present indicative of... |
| 3 | Old French | eslit | chosen, elected |
| 4 | Old French | elire | — |
| 5 | Latin | eligere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 6 | Latin | eligo | I choose, I pluck or root out, extract; I pick... |
| 7 | Latin | e- | Alternative form of ex-; out of; out, utterly |
| 8 | Latin | ex- | out, away; throughout; thoroughly |
| 9 | Latin | e | The name of the letter "E"; out of, from |
| 10 | Latin | ex | A name of the letter "X"; out of, from |
| 11 | Latin | commūnicō | to impart, share |
| 12 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 13 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 14 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 18 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 19 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 20 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 21 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 22 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |