Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “piety” come from?

Piety comes from Middle English piete, from Middle French pieté, from Latin pietas, from Proto-Italic pwījotāts.

piety (English): Reverence and devotion to God; Similar reverence...

Definitions

  1. Reverence and devotion to God; Similar reverence...

Ancestry of “piety”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishpietemercifulness, compassion, sympathy
2Middle Frenchpietépiety
3LatinpietasDutiful conduct, sense of duty; Piety,...
4Latinpīus—
5Latin-tās—
6Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
7Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
8Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “piety”

  • pietistic
  • pietism
  • pietist
  • filiopietistic
  • pietistically
  • unpiety
  • pietisto
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →