Etymograph

English

copious

Copious comes from Latin copiosus ‘copious, plentiful, abundant’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- ‘to work, toil, make’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ep-1‘to work, toil, make’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*opis1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEops1
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōps1‘abounding in, rich, copious’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcopia2‘abundance’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcopiosus2‘copious, plentiful, abundant’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500copious2
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1748copious2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin copia
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English copious
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1748, David Hume, Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding: “These loose hints I have thrown together, in order…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ep-Wiktionary, Latin copia‘to work, toil, make’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*opisWiktionary, Latin copiareconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEopsWiktionary, Latin copia
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōpsWiktionary, Latin copia‘abounding in, rich, copious’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcopiaWiktionary, English copious‘abundance’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcopiosusWiktionary, English copious‘copious, plentiful, abundant’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500copiousWiktionary, English copious
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1748copiousWiktionary, English copious. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1748, David Hume, Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding: “These loose hints I have thrown together, in order…”

Equivalent to copy + -ous

Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- ‘to work, toil, make’

…

Latin cōpia ‘abundance, plenty’

Medieval Latin copia ‘reproduction, transcript’

Old French copie ‘abundance; transcript, copy’

Middle English copy

English copy

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep- ‘to work, toil, make’

operation, bus, operate, operator, opera, omnibus, oeuvre, opus, omnivore, 22 more

through Proto-Italic *opis

officer, 9 more

through Latin ops

office, official, optimum, opulent, officiate, opulence, officiant, officious, 10 more

through Latin copia ‘abundance’

copy, 2 more

Today it means

adj Vast in quantity or number, profuse, abundant; taking place on a large scale.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “copious”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin copia. 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 *h₃ep- / copious

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