Etymograph

English

await

Await comes from Old Northern French awaitier ‘to lie in wait for, watch, observe’, from Latin ad ‘to, towards’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂éd1‘near, at’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*ad1‘toward, to, on, up to, for’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEad2‘to, towards’
  4. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400awaitier3‘to lie in wait for, watch, observe’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500awaiten3
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1470–1485await3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin ad
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin ad-
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English await
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1470–1485, (please specify the chapter): “Also, madame, syte you well that there be many…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂édWiktionary, Latin ad‘near, at’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*adWiktionary, Latin ad‘toward, to, on, up to, for’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEadWiktionary, Latin ad-‘to, towards’
  4. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400awaitierWiktionary, English await‘to lie in wait for, watch, observe’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500awaitenWiktionary, English await
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1470–1485awaitWiktionary, English await. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1470–1485, (please specify the chapter): “Also, madame, syte you well that there be many…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd ‘near, at’

at, 16 more

through Proto-Italic *ad ‘toward, to, on, up to, for’

appointee, 16 more

through Latin ad ‘to, towards’

agree, ad, aim, appoint, attire, amortization, adage, accolade, affix, adulation, affine, alliteration, apportion, adobo, apres, adroit, 20 more

Today it means

verb To wait for.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “await”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin ad, Latin ad-. 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 *h₂éd / await

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