Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “merit” come from?

Merit comes from Middle English merite, from Old French merite, from Latin meritum, the past participle of mereri meaning to earn or deserve, from Proto-Indo-European (s)mer-.

merit (English): A claim to commendation or a reward; A mark or...

Definitions

  1. A claim to commendation or a reward; A mark or...

Ancestry of “merit”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishmerit—
2Anglo-Normanmerit—
3Old Frenchmeritemerit
4Latinmeritummerit, service, deserts; value, reward, benefit,...
5Latinmeritusearned, deserved, obtained, due, proper, right,...
6Latinmereō—
7Proto-Indo-European(s)mer-to fall into thinking, remember, care for; to...

Words derived from “merit”

  • meritocracy
  • meritless
  • meriter
  • meriteth
  • meritest
  • meritable
  • unmeritable
  • meritory
  • meritious
  • meritlessness
  • antimeritocracy
  • overmerit
  • premerit
  • immerit
  • meritlessly
  • meritmonger
  • メリット
Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)mer- →