Where does “repress” come from?

Repress comes from Middle English and Latin re- (meaning "back" or "against") combined with Latin premere (meaning "to press").

repress (English): To forcefully prevent an upheaval from developing...

Definitions

  1. To forcefully prevent an upheaval from developing...

Ancestry of “repress”, step by step

repress traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English press

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishpressA device used to apply pressure to an item; A...
2Middle Englishpressethrong, crowd, clothespress
3Old Frenchpresse—
4Old Frenchpresserto press
5Latinpressāre—
6Latinpremeresecond-person singular future passive indicative...
7LatinpremoI press; I pursue
8Proto-Indo-Europeanpres-to press

via Latin repressus

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinrepressusrepressed
2LatinreprimoI repress; I check, prevent or restrain
3Latinpremōto press, push, press close or hard, oppress, overwhelm
4Indo-European*per-—

Words derived from “repress”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European pres- →