Where does “modest” come from?

Modest comes from Middle French modeste, from Latin modestus meaning "keeping due measure," derived from Latin modus meaning "measure," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European med-.

modest (English): Not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's...

Definitions

  1. Not bragging or boasting about oneself or one's...

Ancestry of “modest”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchmodeste—
2Latinmodestusmoderate, calm, restrained, mild; modest,...
3Latinmodusmeasure
4Proto-Indo-Europeanmēd-to measure
5Proto-Indo-Europeanmed-to measure; to give advice; healing

Words derived from “modest”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European med- →