Where does “signify” come from?
Signify comes from Old French signifier, from Latin significare, meaning to make known, derived from signum (sign) and facio (make), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dʰeh₁-.
signify (English): To create a sign out of something; To give a...
Definitions
- To create a sign out of something; To give a...
Ancestry of “signify”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | signifier | — |
| 2 | Latin | significāre | — |
| 3 | Latin | signum | visible indication: sign, mark, signal; seal,... |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | seknom | sign |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | sek- | to cut, cut off, sever |