Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “diligent” come from?

diligent (Middle English) comes from Old French diligent, from Latin dīligēns, from Latin dīligō, from Latin legō, from Latin lēx, from Proto-Italic lēg-, from Proto-Indo-European leǵ-s, from Proto-Indo-European leǵ- — to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to...

Ancestry of “diligent”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchdiligent—
2Latindīligēns—
3Latindīligō—
4Latinlegō—
5Latinlēx—
6Proto-Italiclēg-—
7Proto-Indo-Europeanleǵ-s—
8Proto-Indo-Europeanleǵ-to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to...

Words derived from “diligent”

  • diligent
  • diligently
  • undiligent
  • overdiligent
  • diligentness
Every word from Proto-Indo-European leǵ- →