Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “benefactor” come from?

benefactor (Middle English) comes from Medieval Latin benefactor, from Latin benefaciō, from Latin faciō, from Latin -torium, from Latin -tōrius, from Latin -tor, from Proto-Italic -tōr, from Proto-Indo-European -tōr.

Ancestry of “benefactor”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Medieval Latinbenefactorhe who bestows a favor
2Latinbenefaciō—
3Latinfaciō—
4Latin-toriumnominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative...
5Latin-tōrius—
6Latin-tor-er
7Proto-Italic-tōr—
8Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
9Proto-Indo-European-tor-s—

Words derived from “benefactor”

  • benefactor
  • benefactress
  • benefactoress
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s →