Etymograph

English

expedition

Expedition comes from Latin expeditio ‘expedition, campaign, mission’, from expediō ‘bring forward’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ped- ‘to walk, to step’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ped-1‘to walk, to step’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpedis2‘feet’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpediō3‘bring forward’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpeditio1‘expedition, campaign, mission’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600expédition1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588expedition1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English expedition
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin expedio
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin expeditio
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “My Lord the great Commander of the worlde, […]…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ped-Wiktionary, English expedition‘to walk, to step’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpedisWiktionary, Latin expedio‘feet’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpediōWiktionary, Latin expeditio‘bring forward’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpeditioWiktionary, English expedition‘expedition, campaign, mission’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600expéditionWiktionary, English expedition
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588expeditionWiktionary, English expedition. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “My Lord the great Commander of the worlde, […]…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ped- ‘to walk, to step’

feet, foot, pilot, pie, fetch, pioneer, pawn, impeachment, podium, pedestrian, pedal, pew, pedigree, 72 more

through Latin pedis ‘feet’

19 more

Today it means

noun A military journey; an enterprise against some enemy or into enemy territory.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “expedition”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin expedio, Latin expeditio. 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 *ped- / expedition

Shirt and support for this word