Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “rapist” come from?

Rapist derives from English rape, from Latin -ista, from Latin rapere and Latin rapio, meaning to seize or take by force, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₁rep-.

rapist (English): A person who has committed rape

Definitions

  1. A person who has committed rape

Ancestry of “rapist”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-istAdded to words to form nouns denoting
2Old French-iste—
3Latin-ista-ist; one who practises or believes
4Ancient Greek-ιστήςAlternative form of -τής; -ist
5Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
6Proto-Hellenic-tās—

Words derived from “rapist”

  • nonrapist
  • date rapist
Every word from Proto-Hellenic -tās →