English
assist
Assist comes from Middle English assisten, from Old French assister ‘to assist, attend’, from Latin assistō ‘to stand by’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEassistō1‘to stand by’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400assister1‘to assist, attend’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500assisten1
- Englishearliest quotation 1789assist1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English assist
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life: “I assisted with pleasure at the representation of several…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEassistōWiktionary, English assist‘to stand by’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400assisterWiktionary, English assist‘to assist, attend’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500assistenWiktionary, English assist
- Englishearliest quotation 1789assistWiktionary, English assist. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1789, Edward Gibbon, Memoirs of My Life: “I assisted with pleasure at the representation of several…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- ‘to stand (up)’
state, post, stay, rest, stand, distance, stadium, instance, constitution, contest, stood, stable, establishment, stability, instant, establish, destination, substance, stem, testimony, destiny, distant, prostitution, stationary, stud, prostitute, stool, extant, substitution, stamina, stale, attest, stead, testimonial, destitute, distal, stow, stalwart, oust, metastatic, 142 more
through Proto-Indo-European *stísteh₂ti ‘to be standing up, to be getting up’
system, consistent, static, histone, stater, 35 more
through Latin sistō ‘to cause to stand’
resist, persistent, insist, consist, solstice, persist, armistice, subsistence, desist, existentialist, 8 more
Today it means
verb To help.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “assist”. 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 assistō / assist