Etymograph

English

evacuate

Evacuate comes from Latin ēvacuātus ‘emptied out’, from vacuō ‘make empty’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-1‘to be/become empty’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wakowos2uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvacuus3‘empty, vacant, unoccupied’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvacuō4‘make empty’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvacuō1‘to empty out, evacuate’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvacuātus1‘emptied out’perfect passive participle of ēvacuō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1622evacuate1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English evacuate
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin vacuus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin vacuo
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Latin evacuo
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam: “it would not evacuate a marriage after cohabitation and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁weh₂-Wiktionary, English evacuate‘to be/become empty’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wakowosWiktionary, Latin vacuusuncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvacuusWiktionary, Latin vacuo‘empty, vacant, unoccupied’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvacuōWiktionary, Latin evacuo‘make empty’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvacuōWiktionary, English evacuate‘to empty out, evacuate’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēvacuātusWiktionary, English evacuate‘emptied out’perfect passive participle of ēvacuō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1622evacuateWiktionary, English evacuate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam: “it would not evacuate a marriage after cohabitation and…”

first attested First attested in 1526 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1526; borrowed from Latin ēvacuātus, the perfect passive participle of ēvacuō (‘to empty out, evacuate’), see -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁weh₂- ‘to be/become empty’

want, various, waste, variety, vast, vary, variable, vacation, vanity, vain, vacant, vanish, waning, wane, vacate, varicella, evanescent, 26 more

through Latin vacuus ‘empty, vacant, unoccupied’

void, vacuum, vacuous, 5 more

Today it means

verb To leave or withdraw from; to quit; to retire from.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “evacuate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin vacuus, Latin vacuo, Latin evacuo. 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 *h₁weh₂- / evacuate

Shirt and support for this word