English
artifice
Artifice comes from Latin artificium ‘art, craft, skill, talent, artifice,…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- ‘to fit, to fix, to put together, to slot’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂er-1‘to fit, to fix, to put together, to slot’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂értis1reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*artis1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEars1‘cunning, artifice, fraud, stratagem’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEartifex1
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEartificium2‘art, craft, skill, talent, artifice, craftsmanship’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600artifice2
- Englishearliest quotation 1867artifice2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin artificium
- 2 Wiktionary, English artifice
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1867, Egbert Pomroy Watson: “The Creator has so cunningly endowed our bodies that…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂er-Wiktionary, Latin artificium‘to fit, to fix, to put together, to slot’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂értisWiktionary, Latin artificiumreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*artisWiktionary, Latin artificiumreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEarsWiktionary, Latin artificium‘cunning, artifice, fraud, stratagem’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEartifexWiktionary, Latin artificium
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEartificiumWiktionary, English artifice‘art, craft, skill, talent, artifice, craftsmanship’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600artificeWiktionary, English artifice
- Englishearliest quotation 1867artificeWiktionary, English artifice. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1867, Egbert Pomroy Watson: “The Creator has so cunningly endowed our bodies that…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- ‘to fit, to fix, to put together, to slot’
order, reason, ready, rate, army, arm, article, ordinary, ratio, alarm, harmony, coordinate, coordination, armor, subordinate, anarchy, ornament, ordination, ornate, arthritis, adorn, harmonious, harmonic, arithmetic, articulate, ordinate, armament, aristocratic, ordinator, artisan, ordinal, armadillo, articulation, harmonize, rime, ordain, ordo, rta, armature, archon, 72 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂értis
through Proto-Italic *artis
artistic, inertia, artiste, 19 more
through Latin ars ‘cunning, artifice, fraud, stratagem’
Today it means
noun Crafty deception.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “artifice”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin artificium. 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 *h₂er- / artifice