Where does “pay” come from?
Pay comes from Old French peier, derived from Latin picare, which developed from Latin pacare meaning to pacify, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root peh₂ḱ-.
pay (English): To give money or other compensation to in...
Definitions
- To give money or other compensation to in...
Ancestry of “pay”, step by step
pay traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English payen
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | payen | pagan |
| 2 | Old French | paiier | to pay |
| 3 | Medieval Latin | pacare | to settle, satisfy; present active infinitive of... |
| 4 | Latin | pācāre | — |
| 5 | Latin | pāx | peace |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | pāks | peace |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | péh₂ḱ-s | peace |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | peh₂ḱ- | to join, to attach; agreement, settlement |