Etymograph

English

appearance

Appearance comes from Middle French apparence, from Latin apparentia ‘a becoming visible’, from appāreō ‘to appear’, from ad- + pāreō ‘to be visible’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂séh₁yeti1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pāzēō1‘to appear’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpāreō1‘to appear, be visible’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEappāreō2‘to appear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEapparentia2‘an appearance, a becoming visible’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600apparence2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1671appearance2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin appareo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English appearance
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, […].: “And now am come to ſee of whom ſuch…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂séh₁yetiWiktionary, Latin appareoreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pāzēōWiktionary, Latin appareo‘to appear’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpāreōWiktionary, Latin appareo‘to appear, be visible’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEappāreōWiktionary, English appearance‘to appear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEapparentiaWiktionary, English appearance‘an appearance, a becoming visible’
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600apparenceWiktionary, English appearance
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1671appearanceWiktionary, English appearance. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, […].: “And now am come to ſee of whom ſuch…”

The story

Morphologically appear + -ance.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin pāreō ‘be visible’

transparency, 4 more

through Latin appareo ‘to appear, be visible, come into sight’

apparition, 3 more

Today it means

noun The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “appearance”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin appareo. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *peh₂séh₁yeti / appearance

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