Etymograph

English

condense

Condense comes from Latin condēnsō ‘to make very dense, press close together,…’, from dēnsō ‘thicken’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dens-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dens-1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdensus1‘dense, compact’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēnsō1‘thicken’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcondēnsō2‘to make very dense, press close together, condense’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600condenser2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1667condense2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin condenso
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English condense
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book I: “In what shape they choose, Dilated or condensed, bright…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dens-Wiktionary, Latin condensoreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdensusWiktionary, Latin condenso‘dense, compact’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēnsōWiktionary, Latin condenso‘thicken’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcondēnsōWiktionary, English condense‘to make very dense, press close together, condense’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600condenserWiktionary, English condense
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1667condenseWiktionary, English condense. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1667, John Milton, Book I: “In what shape they choose, Dilated or condensed, bright…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dens-

diego, didactic, 6 more

Today it means

verb To concentrate toward the essence by making more close, compact, or dense, thereby decreasing size or volume.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “condense”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin condenso. 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 *dens- / condense

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