Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “privilege” come from?

privilege (Middle English) comes from Anglo-Norman privilege, from Latin prīvilēgium, from Latin -ium, from Latin -ius, from Proto-Italic -jōs, from Proto-Indo-European -yós — Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems.

Ancestry of “privilege”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Anglo-Normanprivilegeprivilege
2Latinprīvilēgium—
3Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
4Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
5Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
6Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

Words derived from “privilege”

  • privilege
  • underprivilege
  • disprivilege
  • deprivilege
  • privilegee
  • cis privilege
  • cisprivilege
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →