Etymograph

English

criminate

Criminate comes from Latin crīminātus ‘having accused’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sift, separate, divide’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-1‘to sift, separate, divide’next step skipped: Latin crīminor
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrīminātus1‘having accused’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1791criminate1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English criminate
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest: “‘I am now under confinement in this place for…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-Wiktionary, English criminate‘to sift, separate, divide’next step skipped: Latin crīminor
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrīminātusWiktionary, English criminate‘having accused’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1791criminateWiktionary, English criminate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest: “‘I am now under confinement in this place for…”

first attested First attested circa 1591; borrowed from Latin crīminātus, perfect passive participle of crīminō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested circa 1591; borrowed from Latin crīminātus, perfect passive participle of crīminō, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sift, separate, divide’

certain, secretary, secret, crime, crisis, discretion, critic, critique, discrimination, discreet, riddle, discrete, discern, criterion, hypocrite, excrement, endocrine, excretion, ridder, rime, certitude, excrete, criterium, incrimination, recrimination, 47 more

Today it means

verb To accuse (someone) of a crime; to incriminate.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “criminate”. 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 *krey- / criminate

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