Where does “presume” come from?
Presume comes from Old French presumer, from Latin praesumo meaning to assume beforehand, combining prae- with sumo, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₃ewp-.
presume (English): To be so presumptuous as (to do something) without proper authority or permission
Definitions
- To be so presumptuous as (to do something) without proper authority or permission
Ancestry of “presume”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | presumably | able to be sensibly presumed |
| 2 | English | -ably | Used to form adverbs corresponding to adjectives... |
| 3 | English | -ly | Used to form adjectives from nouns, the... |
| 4 | English | grisly | Horrifyingly repellent; gruesome, terrifying;... |
| 5 | Middle English | grisely | — |
| 6 | Old English | grisliċ | grisly, horrible; dreadful, horrid |
| 7 | Old English | -līċ | suffix forming {{glossary|adjective}}s meaning... |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | *-līk | — |