English
arrive
Arrive comes from Middle English arriven, from Old French ariver, from Early Medieval Latin adrīpō ‘to come ashore’, from Latin rīpa ‘shore’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErīpa1‘shore, river-bank’
- Early Medieval Latinmodernadrīpō1‘to land, come ashore’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ariver1‘to arrive’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500arriven1
- Englishearliest quotation 1599arrive1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English arrive
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar: “Ere we could arrive the point proposed.”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErīpaWiktionary, English arrive‘shore, river-bank’
- Early Medieval LatinmodernadrīpōWiktionary, English arrive‘to land, come ashore’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400ariverWiktionary, English arrive‘to arrive’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500arrivenWiktionary, English arrive
- Englishearliest quotation 1599arriveWiktionary, English arrive. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1599, The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar: “Ere we could arrive the point proposed.”
The story
For the semantic evolution, compare Old English ġelandian, ġelendan, lendan (‘to arrive at land; land’) > Middle English alenden, landen (‘to arrive; arrive at shore; land’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- ‘to tear, tear down’
rope, reap, taser, rife, 5 more
through Latin rīpa ‘shore, river-bank’
Today it means
verb To reach; to get to a certain place.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “arrive”. 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 rīpa / arrive