basicbasic

Basic is from base + -ic; base comes from Old French base, from Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βᾰ́σῐς ‘step’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷémtis¹‘step’reconstructed
2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβᾰ́σῐς¹bắsĭs‘stepping, step, base’
3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbasis¹‘pedestal, base’
4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400base¹
5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500base¹‘foundation’
6. English1500–presentbase¹
7. Englishearliest quotation 2004basic¹

1. ¹ Wiktionary, English basic
2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2004, Bungie, Halo 2: “When I shipped out for basic, the Orbital Defense…”.