Etymograph

English

ferment

Ferment comes from Latin fermentāre ‘to leaven, ferment’, and goes back to fermentum.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfermentum1‘substance causing fermentation’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfermentāre1‘to leaven, ferment’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600ferment1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ferment1
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1713ferment1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English ferment
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1713, Alexander Pope, Windsor-Forest. […]: “Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your blood.”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfermentumWiktionary, English ferment‘substance causing fermentation’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfermentāreWiktionary, English ferment‘to leaven, ferment’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600fermentWiktionary, English ferment
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fermentWiktionary, English ferment
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1713fermentWiktionary, English ferment. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1713, Alexander Pope, Windsor-Forest. […]: “Ye vigorous swains! while youth ferments your blood.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- ‘to boil’

brand, burn, bread, purple, brew, bourbon, broth, bourne, brim, brunt, broil, bren, porphyry, briny, purpura, 39 more

through Proto-Italic *ferweō

fervently, 7 more

through Latin ferveō ‘to be hot’

fervor, fervent, effervescent, 8 more

Today it means

verb To react, using fermentation; especially to produce alcohol by aging or by allowing yeast to act on sugars; to brew.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ferment”. 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 / Latin fermentum / ferment

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