Where does “perpetual” come from?

Perpetual comes from Old French perpetuel, from Latin perpetualis, an adjective formed with the suffix -alis from Latin peto, meaning to seek or strive, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European peth₂-.

perpetual (English): Lasting forever, or for an indefinitely long...

Definitions

  1. Lasting forever, or for an indefinitely long...

Ancestry of “perpetual”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchperpetuel
2Latinperpetualisthat holds everywhere, universal, general
3Latinperpetuusperpetual, continuous, uninterrupted, constant,...
4Latin-uusforms adjectives on verbal stems
5Proto-Italic*-wos
6Proto-Indo-European-wósCreates adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “perpetual

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -wós