English
appropriate
Appropriate comes from Middle English appropriat ‘appropriated’, from Latin appropriātus, past participle of appropriō ‘to make one's own’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEappropriō1‘to make one's own’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500appropriat1‘appropriated’
- Englishearliest quotation 1790appropriate1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English appropriate
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1790, Helen Maria Williams, Julia: “Under the towers were a number of gloomy subterraneous…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEappropriōWiktionary, English appropriate‘to make one's own’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500appropriatWiktionary, English appropriate‘appropriated’
- Englishearliest quotation 1790appropriateWiktionary, English appropriate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1790, Helen Maria Williams, Julia: “Under the towers were a number of gloomy subterraneous…”
A compound of ad ‘to’ + propriō ‘to make one's own’
Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’
Proto-Italic *ad ‘toward, to, on, up to, for’
Latin ad ‘to’
Proto-Italic *proprijos
Latin proprius ‘appropriate to oneself: (one's) proper, (one's) own (inalienably)’
Latin propriō ‘to make one's own’
Explore everything descended from appropriō →
Another origin of appropriate
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500appropriat‘appropriated’
- Englishtodayappropriate
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Today it means
verb To take to oneself; to claim or use, especially as by an exclusive right.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “appropriate”. 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 appropriō / appropriate