Etymograph

English

dilate

Dilate comes from Latin dīlātō ‘to spread out’, and goes back to lātus ‘wide’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElātus1‘wide’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīlātō1‘to spread out’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dilater1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dilaten1
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1594dilate1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English dilate
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “Do me the favour to dilate at full /…”.

Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElātusWiktionary, English dilate‘wide’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdīlātōWiktionary, English dilate‘to spread out’
  3. Old Frenchc. 842–1400dilaterWiktionary, English dilate
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500dilatenWiktionary, English dilate
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1594dilateWiktionary, English dilate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “Do me the favour to dilate at full /…”

first attested First attested in 1393 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1393, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English dilaten, from Old French dilater, from Latin dīlātō (‘to spread out’), from dī- + lātus (‘wide’) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin lātus ‘wide’

le, latitude, collateral, lateral, 12 more

Today it means

verb To enlarge; to make bigger.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “dilate”. 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 lātus / dilate

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