Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “satisfy” come from?

Satisfy comes from Middle English satisfien, from Old French satisfier, from Latin satisfacere, meaning "to do enough," from ad- and facio meaning "to do."

satisfy (English): To do enough for; to meet the needs of; to...

Definitions

  1. To do enough for; to meet the needs of; to...

Ancestry of “satisfy”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishsatisfyen—
2Old Frenchsatisfierto satisfy; to pay
3Latinsatisfacerepresent active infinitive of satisfaciō
4Frenchfaireto do; to make; to say , to go
5Middle Frenchfaireto do; to make; to choose; to elect
6Old Frenchfaireto do
7Latinfaciō—
8Latin-toriumnominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative...
9Latin-tōrius—
10Latin-tor-er
11Proto-Italic-tōr—
12Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
13Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—

Words derived from “satisfy”

  • satisfied
  • satisfying
  • dissatisfied
  • unsatisfied
  • unsatisfying
  • satisfiability
  • satisfiable
  • satisfyingly
  • unsatisfiable
  • satisfieth
  • dissatisfy
  • satisfice
  • unsatisfiability
  • satisfier
  • satisfiest
  • satisfyingness
  • satisficer
  • unsatisfyingly
  • dissatisfier
  • equisatisfiable
  • satisfiedly
  • unsatisfyingness
  • unsatisfiedness
  • nonsatisfying
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →