Where does “merit badge” come from?
merit badge (English) comes from English merit, from Middle English merit, from Anglo-Norman merit, from Old French merite, from Latin meritum, from Latin meritus, from Latin mereō, from Proto-Indo-European (s)mer- — to fall into thinking, remember, care for; to...
merit badge (English): An award earned by youth members of the Boy...
Definitions
- An award earned by youth members of the Boy...
Ancestry of “merit badge”, step by step
merit badge traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English merit
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | merit | A claim to commendation or a reward; A mark or... |
| 2 | Middle English | merit | — |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | merit | — |
| 4 | Old French | merite | merit |
| 5 | Latin | meritum | merit, service, deserts; value, reward, benefit,... |
| 6 | Latin | meritus | earned, deserved, obtained, due, proper, right,... |
| 7 | Latin | mereō | to deserve, merit |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)mer- | to fall into thinking, remember, care for; to... |