Where does “maltreat” come from?
maltreat (English) comes from French maltraiter, from French traiter, from Middle French traicter, from Old French traiter, from Latin tractāre, from Latin tractō, from Latin -tō, from Latin -tus — Derives action nouns from verb roots.
maltreat (English): To treat badly, to abuse
Definitions
- To treat badly, to abuse
Ancestry of “maltreat”, step by step
maltreat traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via French maltraiter
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | maltraiter | to mistreat |
| 2 | French | traiter | to treat; to take care; to process, spray, coat |
| 3 | Middle French | traicter | to treat |
| 4 | Old French | traiter | — |
| 5 | Latin | tractāre | — |
| 6 | Latin | tractō | to tug, drag or haul |
| 7 | Latin | -tō | Forms here |
| 8 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |
via English mal
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | mal | illness, affliction; A longboard; Malleolus |
| 2 | English | malleolus | The bony prominence on each side of the ankle... |
| 3 | Latin | malleolus | small hammer, mallet; fire-dart |
| 4 | Latin | -olus | Alternative form of -ulus; "forming diminutives";... |
| 5 | Latin | -lus | Alternative form of -ulus; diminutive suffix |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |