Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “expeditious” come from?

Expeditious comes from Middle English -ous added to Latin expedio, meaning to free the feet, from ex- and the Proto-Indo-European root ped- meaning foot.

expeditious (English): Fast, prompt, speedy; Completed or done with...

Definitions

  1. Fast, prompt, speedy; Completed or done with...

Ancestry of “expeditious”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishexpediteTo accelerate the progress of; To perform fast...
2Latinexpedītus—
3LatinexpedioI free feet from snares; unfasten fetters; lose...
4Latinpēs—
5Ancient Greekμέτρονsomething used to measure: measure, rule, weight;...
6Ancient Greek-τρονForms instrument nouns
7Proto-Hellenic-tronForms instrument nouns from verb stems
8Proto-Indo-European-tromForms nouns denoting a tool or instrument
9Proto-Indo-European-tḗrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...

Words derived from “expeditious”

  • expeditiously
  • expeditiousness
  • unexpeditious
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tḗr →