Etymograph

English

develop

Develop comes from French développer, from Old French desveloper, from des- + veloper ‘to wrap’, from Vulgar Latin *vloppō ‘to wrap’.

  1. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*vloppō1‘to wrap’reconstructed
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400veloper1‘to wrap’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400desveloper1
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600desveloper1
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentdévelopper1‘to develop’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1791develop1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English develop
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina: “‘The mystery which I cannot develop, may by that…”.

Lineage

  1. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*vloppōWiktionary, English develop‘to wrap’reconstructed
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400veloperWiktionary, English develop‘to wrap’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400desveloperWiktionary, English develop
  4. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600desveloperWiktionary, English develop
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentdévelopperWiktionary, English develop‘to develop’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1791developWiktionary, English develop. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina: “‘The mystery which I cannot develop, may by that…”

The story

The word acquired its modern meaning from the 17th-century belief that an egg contains the animal in miniature and matures by growing larger and shedding its envelopes.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

verb To discover, find out; to uncover.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “develop”. 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 / Vulgar Latin *vloppō / develop