Etymograph

English

empire

Empire comes from Old French empire, from Latin imperium ‘command, dominion’, from imperō ‘to command’, from parō ‘to prepare’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *perh₃-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*perh₃-1‘to grant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr̥h₃-o-1‘providing’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparō2‘prepare’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimperō2‘command’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimperium3‘the empire’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400empire3
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500empire3‘emperorship’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1781empire3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin paro
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin imperium
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English empire
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1781, Horace Walpole, The Mysterious Mother: “Each master whim maintains its hour of empire, And…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*perh₃-Wiktionary, Latin paro‘to grant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr̥h₃-o-Wiktionary, Latin paro‘providing’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparōWiktionary, Latin imperium‘prepare’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimperōWiktionary, Latin imperium‘command’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimperiumWiktionary, English empire‘the empire’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400empireWiktionary, English empire
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500empireWiktionary, English empire‘emperorship’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1781empireWiktionary, English empire. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1781, Horace Walpole, The Mysterious Mother: “Each master whim maintains its hour of empire, And…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- ‘to grant’

part, expert, experiment, para, parcel, parental, parity, 43 more

through Latin parō ‘prepare, arrange’

several, separate, preparation, separation, repair, apparatus, parachute, apparel, preparatory, disparate, severance, inseparable, separator, rampart, separable, pare, reparation, 15 more

through Latin imperō ‘command, order’

emperor, empress, imperator, 7 more

through Latin imperium ‘the empire, state, imperial government, realm,…’

imperial, imperious, imperium, 1 more

Today it means

noun A political state, often a monarchy, that has achieved a much greater current size than its initial size by conquering surrounding territories, cities or nations.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “empire”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin paro, Latin imperium. 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 *perh₃- / empire

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