Etymograph

English

depict

Depict comes from Latin dēpictus ‘depicted, portrayed’, from pingō ‘to paint, tint or colour’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- ‘to hew, cut out’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peyḱ-1‘to hew, cut out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pinéḱti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pingō1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpingō1‘to paint, tint or colour’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēpingō2‘to depict, to paint, to portray, to represent by painting’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēpictus2‘depicted, portrayed’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500depicten2
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1639depict2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin depingo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English depict
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warre: “And by [these Embassadours] he sent to their master…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peyḱ-Wiktionary, Latin depingo‘to hew, cut out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pinéḱtiWiktionary, Latin depingoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pingōWiktionary, Latin depingoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpingōWiktionary, Latin depingo‘to paint, tint or colour’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēpingōWiktionary, English depict‘to depict, to paint, to portray, to represent by painting’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēpictusWiktionary, English depict‘depicted, portrayed’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500depictenWiktionary, English depict
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1639depictWiktionary, English depict. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warre: “And by [these Embassadours] he sent to their master…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peyḱ- ‘to hew, cut out’

fish, file, feud, piscina, 26 more

through Proto-Italic *pingō

pinto, 8 more

through Latin pingō ‘to paint, tint or colour’

paint, picture, pint, pigment, pictorial, pimento, 9 more

Today it means

verb To render a representation of something, using words, sounds, images, or other means.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “depict”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin depingo. 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 *peyḱ- / depict

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