Where does “taxpayer” come from?
Taxpayer combines English tax, ultimately from Latin taxa (plural of taxare, meaning to assess or evaluate), with English pay, tracing back through Chinese 兒 and Latin -are formations to Proto-Indo-European tag-.
taxpayer (English): A person who is subject to, liable for, or pays...
Definitions
- A person who is subject to, liable for, or pays...
Ancestry of “taxpayer”, step by step
taxpayer traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English tax
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | tax | Money paid to the government other than for... |
| 2 | Middle English | taxe | A tax or charge |
| 3 | Old French | taxe | — |
| 4 | Latin | taxa | second-person singular present active imperative... |
| 5 | Latin | taxāre | — |
| 6 | Latin | Taxus | yew |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | εἶδος | That which is seen: form, image, shape;... |
| 8 | Spanish | -scopio | -scope |
| 9 | Latin | -scopium | — |
| 10 | Ancient Greek | σκοπέω | I look, look at, behold; I examine, inspect; 413... |
| 11 | Ancient Greek | σκοπός | watcher, lookout; protector, guardian; spy, scout |
| 12 | Ancient Greek | σκέπτομαι | I look at, examine; I examine, consider, think |
| 13 | Proto-Hellenic | sképťomai | to look at |
| 14 | Proto-Indo-European | spéḱyeti | to be looking at, to keep looking at |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | speḱ- | to see, to look, to observe |
via English payer
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | payer | One who pays; specifically, the person by whom a... |
| 2 | English | -er | A person or thing that does an action indicated... |
| 3 | Middle English | -er | agentive suffix; agent noun suffix |
| 4 | Old French | -er | Alternative form of -ier, verbal suffix;... |
| 5 | Latin | -āre | first conjugation |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -āō | Forms primarily denominative verbs |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -eh₂yéti | Creates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 10 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |