Where does “fence” come from?
Fence comes from Middle English fens, from Old French defense meaning "prohibition or barrier," from Latin defensa, the feminine past participle of defendere meaning "to ward off."
fence (English): A thin artificial barrier that separates two...
Definitions
- A thin artificial barrier that separates two...
Ancestry of “fence”, step by step
fence traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English fence
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | fence | — |
| 2 | Middle English | defence | — |
| 3 | Old French | defens | — |
| 4 | Late Latin | defensa | protection; bounded, defended; defence |
| 5 | Latin | defensus | driven away, having been driven away; defended,... |
| 6 | Latin | dēfendō | to drive away |
| 7 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 8 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 9 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 10 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 11 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |
via German Fenz
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German | Fenz | — |