Etymograph

English

agency

Agency is borrowed from Medieval Latin agentia, from Latin agēns, present participle of agō ‘to act’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagō1‘to act’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagēns1‘doing, acting’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500agentia1
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1695agency1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English agency
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1695, John Woodward, (please specify the page): “A few advances there are in the following papers…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagōWiktionary, English agency‘to act’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEagēnsWiktionary, English agency‘doing, acting’
  3. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500agentiaWiktionary, English agency
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1695agencyWiktionary, English agency. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1695, John Woodward, (please specify the page): “A few advances there are in the following papers…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with agency, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-

  • register ← registrum ← regesta ← regerō ← gerō
  • suggest ← suggestus ← sub ← *supo ← *upó
  • essay
  • acre ← æcer ← *akr ← *akraz ← *h₂éǵros
  • gesture ← gestūra ← gerō ← *gezō
  • congestion ← congestioun ← congestĭō ← congerō ← gerō
  • digest ← digesten ← dīgestus ← dīgerō ← gerō
  • agrarian ← agrarien ← agrārius ← ager ← *agros
  • progesterone ← ketone ← Keton ← gestō ← gerō
  • gestation ← gestātiō ← gestō ← gerō ← *gezō
  • ingestion ← ingestionem ← ingestio ← ingerere ← gero
  • belligerent ← belligerans ← belligerō ← belliger ← bellum

457 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun The capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “agency”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin agō / agency