English
equipment
Equipment is either equip + -ment or borrowed from French équipement.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English equipment
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1756-1761, David Hume: “The equipment of the fleet was therefore hastened by…”.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentéquipementWiktionary, English equipment‘equipment’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1756-1761equipmentWiktionary, English equipment. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1756-1761, David Hume: “The equipment of the fleet was therefore hastened by…”
Formed from equip + -ment
Old French esquiper ‘to embark’
Middle French esquiper
French équiper ‘to supply, fit out’
English equip
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *skey- ‘to split, to dissect’
nice, science, shift, scientific, shed, conscious, kyle, ski, shin, skipper, sheath, squire, skeet, scuttle, chine, prescient, skein, scullery, shud, 41 more
through Proto-Germanic *skipą ‘ship’
through Proto-Germanic *skipōną ‘to ship, sail, embark’
Today it means
noun The act of equipping, or the state of being equipped, as for a voyage or expedition.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “equipment”. 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 / French équipement / equipment