Etymograph

English

category

Category comes from French catégorie, from Late Latin catēgoria ‘class of predicables’, from Ancient Greek κατηγορία ‘charge’, from κατηγορέω ‘I accuse’.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκᾰτηγορέω1‘I accuse’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκατηγορία2‘charge; head of predicables’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcatēgoria3‘class of predicables’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600categorie3
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentcatégorie4
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1988category4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κατηγορία
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin categoria
  3. 3 Wiktionary, French catégorie
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English category
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course: “The traditional way of describing the similarities and differences…”.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκᾰτηγορέωWiktionary, Ancient Greek κατηγορία‘I accuse’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκατηγορίαWiktionary, Latin categoria‘charge; head of predicables’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcatēgoriaWiktionary, French catégorie‘class of predicables’
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600categorieWiktionary, French catégorie
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentcatégorieWiktionary, English category
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1988categoryWiktionary, English category. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1988, Andrew Radford, Transformational grammar: a first course: “The traditional way of describing the similarities and differences…”

The story

Late Middle English, borrowed from French catégorie, from Middle French categorie, from Late Latin catēgoria (‘class of predicables’), from Ancient Greek κατηγορία (katēgoría, “head of predicables”).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

noun A group, often named or numbered, to which items are assigned based on similarity or defined criteria.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “category”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek κατηγορία, Latin categoria, French catégorie. 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 / Ancient Greek κᾰτηγορέω / category