Where does “closet” come from?
closet (Old French) comes from Old French clos, from Latin clausus, from Latin claudere, from Latin claudo, from Proto-Italic klaudō — close.
closet (Old French): small enclosed area, such as a field or a paddock
Definitions
- small enclosed area, such as a field or a paddock
Ancestry of “closet”, step by step
closet traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Old French clos
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | clos | enclosed outdoor area, such as a field or a... |
| 2 | Latin | clausus | closed, inaccessible; having been closed;... |
| 3 | Latin | claudere | present active infinitive of claudō;... |
| 4 | Latin | claudo | I shut, close, lock; I imprison, confine; I... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | klaudō | close |
via Old French et
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | et | and |
| 2 | Latin | et | and; plus; though, even if |
| 3 | Proto-Indo-European | éti | beyond; over |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | h₁é | and, then |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵʰe | Postpositional intensifying particle: indeed, at any rate, in fact |
Words derived from “closet”