Etymograph

English

comprobate

Comprobate comes from Latin comprobātus ‘approved, accepted’, from probō ‘to esteem as good, serviceable, fit, just’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-1‘to be, become, grow, appear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*probʰHwós1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*proβwos1reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*proβos1‘favourable’reconstructed
  5. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*proβāō1‘to approve’reconstructed
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprobō1‘to esteem as good, serviceable, fit, just’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomprobō2‘to approve wholly’
  8. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomprobātus2‘approved, accepted’perfect passive participle of comprobō
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1528comprobate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin comprobo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English comprobate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1528, Thomas More, More to Wolsey [Letter]: “Ferthermore, His Highnes desireth Your Grace, at such tyme…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-Wiktionary, Latin comprobo‘to be, become, grow, appear’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*probʰHwósWiktionary, Latin comproboreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*proβwosWiktionary, Latin comproboreconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*proβosWiktionary, Latin comprobo‘favourable’reconstructed
  5. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*proβāōWiktionary, Latin comprobo‘to approve’reconstructed
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprobōWiktionary, Latin comprobo‘to esteem as good, serviceable, fit, just’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomprobōWiktionary, English comprobate‘to approve wholly’
  8. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcomprobātusWiktionary, English comprobate‘approved, accepted’perfect passive participle of comprobō
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1528comprobateWiktionary, English comprobate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1528, Thomas More, More to Wolsey [Letter]: “Ferthermore, His Highnes desireth Your Grace, at such tyme…”

first attested First attested in 1523 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1523; borrowed from Latin comprobātus, perfect passive participle of comprobō (‘to approve wholly’), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to be, become, grow, appear’

be, been, power, possible, future, build, present, physical, essential, bond, presence, bush, bound, absence, contribution, physician, entity, booth, absent, favorable, distribute, contributor, bun, favourable, fiat, bouquet, retribution, attribution, rebuke, imp, bower, impossibility, aren, impotent, beamer, bosque, phylogeny, physic, phylum, busk, 80 more

through Proto-Italic *proβos ‘favourable’

probe, probity, 7 more

through Proto-Italic *proβāō ‘to approve’

improve, approve, approbation, 10 more

through Latin probō ‘to esteem as good, serviceable, fit, just’

prove, proof, probability, probable, probation, probative, 13 more

Today it means

verb To agree; to concur.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “comprobate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin comprobo. 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 *bʰuH- / comprobate

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