Where does “retrench” come from?
Retrench comes from Old French re- combined with English three, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European tréyes meaning three.
retrench (English): To cut down or reduce; To confine; to limit; to...
Definitions
- To cut down or reduce; To confine; to limit; to...
Ancestry of “retrench”, step by step
retrench traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English trench
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | trench | A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground; A... |
| 2 | Old French | trenche | trench; first-person singular present indicative... |
| 3 | Old French | trenchier | to cut |
| 4 | Vulgar Latin | trinicare | cut into three parts; cut in three parts |
| 5 | Latin | trini | nominative masculine plural of trīnus; genitive... |
| 6 | Latin | tres | three; 3 |
| 7 | English | three | A numerical value after two and before four.... |
| 8 | Middle English | thre | three |
| 9 | Old English | þrī | three |
| 10 | Proto-West Germanic | þrīʀ | three |
| 11 | Proto-Germanic | þrīz | three |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | *tréyes | — |
via Old French retranchier
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | retranchier | to get rid of; to remove |
| 2 | Old French | tranchier | Alternative form of trenchier |
| 3 | Latin | truncāre | — |
| 4 | Latin | truncus | lopped, docked; maimed, mangled, mutilated; A... |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | twerḱ- | to carve, cut off, trim |