Etymograph

English

charity

Charity comes from Old French charité ‘charity, love’, from Latin cāritās ‘dearness’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂- ‘to desire’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*keh₂-1‘to desire’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kéh₂ros1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kāros2‘dear’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcārus2‘dear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcāritās3‘dearness’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400charité3‘charity’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500charite3
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611charity3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kāros
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin caritas
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English charity
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not;…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*keh₂-Wiktionary, Proto-Italic *kāros‘to desire’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kéh₂rosWiktionary, Proto-Italic *kārosreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kārosWiktionary, Latin caritas‘dear’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcārusWiktionary, Latin caritas‘dear’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcāritāsWiktionary, English charity‘dearness’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400charitéWiktionary, English charity‘charity’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500chariteWiktionary, English charity
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611charityWiktionary, English charity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not;…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with charity, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *keh₂- ‘to desire’

through Proto-Indo-European *kéh₂ros

  • whore ← hore ← hōre ← *hōrǭ

through Latin cārus ‘dear, expensive’

  • caress ← caresse ← carezza

8 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun An organization, the objective of which is to carry out a charitable purpose.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “charity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Italic *kāros, Latin caritas. 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 *keh₂- / charity