Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “spence” come from?

spence (Middle English) comes from Middle French despense, from Late Latin dispensa, from Latin dīspendō, from Latin pandō, from Latin pandus, from Latin -us, from Old Latin -os, from Proto-Italic -os — Creates agent nouns from verb stems, denoting...

Ancestry of “spence”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchdespense—
2Late Latindispensa—
3Latindīspendō—
4Latinpandō—
5Latinpandusbend, crooked, curved; bent, crooked
6Latin-ussuffix forming adjectives from nouns, verbs,...
7Old Latin-osaccusative masculine plural of -us
8Proto-Italic-os—
9Proto-Indo-European-ósCreates agent nouns from verb stems, denoting...

Words derived from “spence”

  • spence
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -ós →