Etymograph

English

imagination

Imagination comes from Latin imāginātiō ‘mental image, fancy, imagination’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- ‘to imitate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eym-1‘to imitate’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāgō2‘image’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāginor3‘to imagine, conceive’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāginātiō4‘mental image, fancy, imagination’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400imaginacion4
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ymaginacioun4‘the ability to create mental images’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1603imagination4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin imago
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin imaginor
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin imaginatio
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English imagination
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “It is a pleasant imagination to conceive a spirit…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eym-Wiktionary, Latin imago‘to imitate’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāgōWiktionary, Latin imaginor‘image’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāginorWiktionary, Latin imaginatio‘to imagine, conceive’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimāginātiōWiktionary, English imagination‘mental image, fancy, imagination’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400imaginacionWiktionary, English imagination
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ymaginaciounWiktionary, English imagination‘the ability to create mental images’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1603imaginationWiktionary, English imagination. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes […]: “It is a pleasant imagination to conceive a spirit…”

Formed from imagine + -ation

Latin imāgō ‘a copy, likeness’

Latin imāginor ‘to imagine’

Middle French imaginer

Middle English ymagynen ‘to imagine’

English imagine

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eym- ‘to imitate’

emulate, imitate, imitation, emulation, imitator, 8 more

through Latin imāgō ‘image’

image, imago, 6 more

Today it means

noun The image-making power of the mind; the act of mentally creating or reproducing an object not previously perceived; the ability to create such images.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “imagination”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin imago, Latin imaginor, Latin imaginatio. 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 *h₂eym- / imagination

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