English
demand
Demand comes from Old French demander ‘to ask’, from Latin dēmandō ‘to entrust, commit’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēmandō1‘to entrust, commit’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400demander1‘to ask’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500demaunden1
- Englishearliest quotation 1850demand1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English demand
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, [Alfred, Canto XXXI: “When Lazarus left his charnel-cave, And home to Mary’s…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēmandōWiktionary, English demand‘to entrust, commit’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400demanderWiktionary, English demand‘to ask’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500demaundenWiktionary, English demand
- Englishearliest quotation 1850demandWiktionary, English demand. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, [Alfred, Canto XXXI: “When Lazarus left his charnel-cave, And home to Mary’s…”
A compound of dē ‘of; concerning; about’ + mandō ‘to order, command, enjoin’
Proto-Indo-European *de ‘to, towards’
Proto-Indo-European *déh₁ ‘toward, in the direction of’
Proto-Italic *dē
Latin dē ‘of; concerning; about’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)meh₂- ‘to beckon, signal’
Proto-Italic *manus ‘hand’
Proto-Italic *manuðō ‘to hand over’
Latin mandō ‘to order, command, enjoin’
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Today it means
noun The desire to purchase goods and services.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “demand”. 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 / Latin dēmandō / demand