Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “para” come from?

para (English) comes from Portuguese Pará, from Portuguese Pera, from Portuguese espera, from Portuguese esperar, from Old Portuguese asperar, from Old Spanish esperar, from Latin spērō, from Latin spes — to succeed, to prosper.

Ancestry of “para”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1PortugueseParáa state in the North Region of Brazil
2PortuguesePera—
3Portugueseesperawait
4Portugueseesperarto wait; to hope; to expect; to anticipate
5Old Portugueseasperar—
6Old Spanishesperar—
7Latinspērō—
8Latinspeshope; expectation, anticipation, apprehension
9Proto-Italicspēshope
10Proto-Indo-Europeanspéh₁sprosperity, success
11Proto-Indo-Europeanspeh₁-to succeed, to prosper
Every word from Proto-Indo-European speh₁- →