English
display
Display comes from Middle English displayen, from Anglo-Norman despleier, from Medieval Latin displicō ‘to unfold’, from dis- + plicō ‘to fold’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-1‘to fold, plait’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicō2as plicāre‘to fold’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500displicō2‘to unfold, display’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400despleier2
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500displayen2
- Englishearliest quotation 1590display2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin plico
- 2 Wiktionary, English display
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto V: “The wearie Traueiler, wandring that way, / Therein did…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleḱ-Wiktionary, Latin plico‘to fold, plait’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplicōWiktionary, English displayas plicāre‘to fold’
- Medieval Latinc. 600–1500displicōWiktionary, English display‘to unfold, display’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400despleierWiktionary, English display
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500displayenWiktionary, English display
- Englishearliest quotation 1590displayWiktionary, English display. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto V: “The wearie Traueiler, wandring that way, / Therein did…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with display, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ- ‘to plait, to weave’
through Latin plicō ‘to fold’
- apply ← aplien ← applier ← applicō
- employment ← employer ← empleier ← implicō
- reply ← replyen ← replier ← replicō
- explicit ← explicite ← explicite ← explicātus ← explicō
- employ ← emploien ← emploier ← implicō
76 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun A show or spectacle.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “display”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin plico. 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 *pleḱ- / display