Where does “merit” come from?

merit (Middle English) comes from Anglo-Norman merit, from Old French merite, from Latin meritum, from Latin meritus, from Latin mereō, from Proto-Indo-European (s)mer- — to fall into thinking, remember, care for; to...

Ancestry of “merit”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Anglo-Normanmerit—
2Old Frenchmeritemerit
3Latinmeritummerit, service, deserts; value, reward, benefit,...
4Latinmeritusearned, deserved, obtained, due, proper, right,...
5Latinmereōto deserve, merit
6Proto-Indo-European(s)mer-to fall into thinking, remember, care for; to...

Words derived from “merit”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)mer- →Every word from Latin mereō →Every word from Latin meritus →