Where does “pretentious” come from?
Pretentious comes from French prétentieux, derived from French prétention and the Latin suffix -osus, ultimately from Latin praetendo meaning "to stretch forward" or "claim," combined with Latin tendo meaning "to stretch."
pretentious (English): Intended to impress others; ostentatious; Marked...
Definitions
- Intended to impress others; ostentatious; Marked...
Ancestry of “pretentious”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | prétentieux | pretentious |
| 2 | French | prétention | pretentiousness; pretension; claim |
| 3 | French | -tion | Used to indicate action, condition, result or... |
| 4 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 5 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 6 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 7 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 8 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 9 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 10 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 11 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |