Etymology Explorer › Old French

Where does “torture” come from?

torture (Old French) comes from Latin tortūra, from Latin tortus, from Latin -tus, from Proto-Italic -tus, from Proto-Indo-European -tus — Derives action nouns from verb roots.

Ancestry of “torture”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latintortūra—
2Latintortustwisted, crooked; spun, whirled; bent, distorted
3Latin-tusForms the past participle of verbs; Forms...
4Proto-Italic-tus—
5Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “torture”

  • torture
  • torturous
  • torturer
  • torturously
  • torturesome
  • antitorture
  • torturest
  • torturable
  • tortureth
  • torturee
  • torturess
  • untorturable
  • electrotorture
  • Muldertorture
  • torture
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →