Where does “execute” come from?
Execute comes from Old French executer, from Latin exsecutus (past participle of exsequor, meaning to follow out or pursue), from ex (out) combined with a root meaning to follow.
execute (English): To kill as punishment for capital crimes; To...
Definitions
- To kill as punishment for capital crimes; To...
Ancestry of “execute”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | executer | — |
| 2 | Latin | exsecutus | accompanied; pursued; executed, accomplished;... |
| 3 | Latin | exsequor | I follow to the end; follow after thoroughly,... |
| 4 | Latin | ex | A name of the letter "X"; out of, from |
| 5 | Latin | commūnicō | to impart, share |
| 6 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 7 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 12 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 13 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 14 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 15 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 16 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |