Etymograph

English

expel

Expel comes from Latin expellere, from pellō ‘to drive’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-1‘to drive, strike, thrust’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnō1‘to approach’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellō2as pellere‘to drive’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpellere2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590expel2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin pello
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English expel
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IX: “But to the ground the idle quarrell fell: /…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-Wiktionary, Latin pello‘to drive, strike, thrust’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnōWiktionary, Latin pello‘to approach’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellōWiktionary, English expelas pellere‘to drive’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexpellereWiktionary, English expel
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590expelWiktionary, English expel. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto IX: “But to the ground the idle quarrell fell: /…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to drive, strike, thrust’

film, simple, simply, push, felt, filter, powder, complain, fold, pillow, flaw, pollen, palate, palpable, palladium, palatable, pall, wallow, polemic, tuple, pollinate, palatal, peloton, muffle, pulver, palp, pillion, interpolate, apoplexy, peplum, 62 more

through Proto-Italic *pelnō ‘to approach’

impulse, repulse, repellent, 10 more

through Latin pellō ‘to drive’

appeal, pulse, compulsory, repeal, propulsion, compulsive, expulsion, appellate, compel, propel, repel, dispel, pelt, impel, rappel, 16 more

Today it means

verb To eject.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “expel”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin pello. 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 *pel- / expel

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