Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “temporary” come from?

Temporary comes from Latin temporarius, derived from Latin tempus meaning time, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European tempos and its root temp-.

temporary (English): Not permanent; existing only for a period or...

Definitions

  1. Not permanent; existing only for a period or...

Ancestry of “temporary”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latintemporārius—
2Latintempustime, period, age; season; kairos, right time,...
3Proto-Indo-Europeantemposstretch
4Proto-Indo-Europeantemp-to extend, stretch, span; to stetch, string; to...

Words derived from “temporary”

  • temporarily
  • temp
  • cotemporary
  • temporariness
  • nontemporary
  • temps
Every word from Proto-Indo-European temp- →