English
amplitude
Amplitude comes from Latin amplitūdō ‘a wide extent’, and goes back to amplus ‘large’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamplus1‘large’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamplitūdō1‘a wide extent’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600amplitude1
- Englishearliest quotation 1655amplitude1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English amplitude
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […]: “The cathedral of Lincoln […] is a magnificent structure,…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamplusWiktionary, English amplitude‘large’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEamplitūdōWiktionary, English amplitude‘a wide extent’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600amplitudeWiktionary, English amplitude
- Englishearliest quotation 1655amplitudeWiktionary, English amplitude. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […]: “The cathedral of Lincoln […] is a magnificent structure,…”
Equivalent to ample + -itude
Latin amplus ‘large’
Old French ample
Middle French ample
Middle English ample ‘ample, copious, profuse’
English ample
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- ‘to fill’
people, public, popular, complete, plus, supply, poll, folk, completion, implement, supplement, manipulation, comply, accomplish, complement, plural, plethora, depletion, puri, replete, volk, plebs, deplete, plebeian, 76 more
through Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós ‘full’
through Latin plēnus ‘full’
plenty, plain, plenary, replenish, plenum, 16 more
through Latin amplus ‘large’
Today it means
noun The measure of the size of something, especially its width or breadth; largeness, magnitude.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “amplitude”. 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 amplus / amplitude