Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “famous” come from?

famous (Middle English) comes from Anglo-Norman famous, from Latin famosus, from Latin -osus, from Old Latin -osos, from Latin ont-to-s, from Latin -o-wont-to-s.

Ancestry of “famous”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Anglo-Normanfamous—
2Latinfamosusfamed, celebrated, noted, renowned, famous;...
3Latin-osus-ose, -ous; full of, overly, prone to
4Old Latin-ososaccusative masculine plural of -ōsus
5Latinont-to-s—
6Latin-o-wont-to-s—

Words derived from “famous”

  • famous
  • famously
  • nonfamous
  • famousness
  • unfamous
  • famoused
  • semifamous
  • superfamous
  • ultrafamous
  • e-famous
  • uber-famous
  • microfamous
Every word from Latin -o-wont-to-s →