English
attachment
Attachment comes from French attacher ‘to attach’, from Old French estachier ‘bind’, and ultimately from Medieval Latin staca ‘a stake’.
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500staca1‘a stake’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400estache2‘stick’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400estachier2‘bind’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400atachier2‘to attach’variant of estachier
- Frenchc. 1600–presentattacher3‘to attach’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentattachement4
- Englishearliest quotation 1978attachment4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Old French estache
- 2 Wiktionary, French attacher
- 3 Wiktionary, French attachement
- 4 Wiktionary, English attachment
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1978, Walter H. Wager, Time of reckoning: “Zimchenko's phone had a tape attachment, […]”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500stacaWiktionary, Old French estache‘a stake’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400estacheWiktionary, French attacher‘stick’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400estachierWiktionary, French attacher‘bind’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400atachierWiktionary, French attacher‘to attach’variant of estachier
- Frenchc. 1600–presentattacherWiktionary, French attachement‘to attach’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentattachementWiktionary, English attachment
- Englishearliest quotation 1978attachmentWiktionary, English attachment. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1978, Walter H. Wager, Time of reckoning: “Zimchenko's phone had a tape attachment, […]”
Equivalent to attach + -ment
Proto-Germanic *stakô ‘pole, bar, stick, stake’
…
Old French estache ‘stick’
Old French estachier ‘bind’
Old French atachier ‘to attach’
Middle English attachen
English attach
Linked words
through Proto-Germanic *stakô ‘a stake’
through Old French atachier ‘to attach’
etiquette, detach, staccato, 3 more
through French attacher ‘to attach’
Today it means
noun The act or process of (physically or figuratively) attaching.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “attachment”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Old French estache, French attacher, French attachement. 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 / Medieval Latin staca / attachment