Etymology Explorer › French

Where does “savoir-faire” come from?

savoir-faire (French) comes from French faire, from Middle French faire, from Old French faire, from Latin faciō, from Latin -torium, from Latin -tōrius, from Latin -tor, from Proto-Italic -tōr.

savoir-faire (French): know-how, savoir-faire

Definitions

  1. know-how, savoir-faire

Ancestry of “savoir-faire”, step by step

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

Words derived from “savoir-faire”

  • savoir-faire
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →