Etymograph

English

avocate

Avocate comes from Latin avoco ‘to call off or away, withdraw, divert, remove,…’, from vōx ‘voice, speech’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- ‘to speak’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wekʷ-1‘to speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wṓkʷs1‘speech, voice’reconstructedo-grade root noun of *wekʷ-
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wōks1‘voice’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvōx2‘voice, speech’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvocō3‘to call’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEavoco4as avoco‘to call off or away, withdraw, divert, remove, separate, turn’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1632avocate4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vox
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin voco
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin avoco
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English avocate
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1632, William Prynne: “Stage-playes and dancing avocate and with-hold men from Gods…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wekʷ-Wiktionary, Latin vox‘to speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wṓkʷsWiktionary, Latin vox‘speech, voice’reconstructedo-grade root noun of *wekʷ-
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wōksWiktionary, Latin vox‘voice’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvōxWiktionary, Latin voco‘voice, speech’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvocōWiktionary, Latin avoco‘to call’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEavocoWiktionary, English avocateas avoco‘to call off or away, withdraw, divert, remove, separate, turn’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1632avocateWiktionary, English avocate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1632, William Prynne: “Stage-playes and dancing avocate and with-hold men from Gods…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- ‘to speak’

epic, wight, whit, epos, 29 more

through Proto-Italic *wōks ‘voice’

vocalist, voiceless, vocally, vocalize, 25 more

through Latin vōx ‘voice, speech’

voice, vocal, vox, invocation, vociferous, 25 more

through Latin vocō ‘to call’

invite, invitation, vie, provoke, advocate, invoke, vocational, vouch, provocative, provocation, vocation, irrevocable, revocable, provocateur, 29 more

Today it means

verb To call off or away; to withdraw; to transfer to another tribunal.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “avocate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin vox, Latin voco, Latin avoco. 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 *wekʷ- / avocate

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