English
expansion
Expansion comes from Latin expandō ‘to spread something out’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *peth₂-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peth₂-1‘to spread out’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ptnéh₂ti1reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pandō1‘to spread’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpandō2‘spread’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpandō3‘to spread something out’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpānsiō4
- Frenchc. 1600–presentexpansion4
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1804expansion4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin pando
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin expando
- 3 Wiktionary, Latin expansio
- 4 Wiktionary, English expansion
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1804, James Beattie, The Beginning of the First Book of Lucretius: “Mother of mighty Rome's imperial line, / Delight of…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peth₂-Wiktionary, Latin pando‘to spread out’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ptnéh₂tiWiktionary, Latin pandoreconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pandōWiktionary, Latin pando‘to spread’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpandōWiktionary, Latin expando‘spread’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpandōWiktionary, Latin expansio‘to spread something out’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpānsiōWiktionary, English expansion
- Frenchc. 1600–presentexpansionWiktionary, English expansion
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1804expansionWiktionary, English expansion. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: a. 1804, James Beattie, The Beginning of the First Book of Lucretius: “Mother of mighty Rome's imperial line, / Delight of…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with expansion, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *peth₂- ‘to spread out’
- mile ← myle ← mīl ← *mīliju ← mīlia
- repeat ← repeten ← repeter ← repeter ← repetō
- compete ← competer ← competere ← petō ← *péth₂eti
- pen ← penne ← penne ← penne ← penna
- helicopter ← hélicoptère ← πτερόν ← *pterón ← *péth₂r̥
- passage ← passer ← *passāre ← passus ← *pat-s-tus
- petition ← peticiun ← petitio ← petō ← *péth₂eti
- competitor ← compétiteur ← competō ← petō ← *péth₂eti
- feather ← fethere ← feþer ← *feþru ← *feþrō
- symptom ← sinthoma ← sinthoma ← symptoma ← σύμπτωμα
- perpetual ← perpetuel ← perpetuel ← perpetuālis ← perpetuus
- compass ← compas ← compas ← compassus ← passus
117 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
noun An act, process, or instance of expanding.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “expansion”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin pando, Latin expando, Latin expansio. 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 *peth₂- / expansion