Etymograph

English

imperate

Imperate comes from Latin imperātus ‘commanded’, from parō ‘to arrange, order, contrive, design’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃o-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr̥h₃o-1reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*paro-1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparō1‘to arrange, order, contrive, design’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimperō2‘to command’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimperātus2‘commanded’perfect passive participle of imperō
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1550imperate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin impero
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English imperate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1550, Iohne Rolland, The Thrid Buik: “Than Venus said in mind half stomachat, Of the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr̥h₃o-Wiktionary, Latin imperoreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*paro-Wiktionary, Latin imperoreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparōWiktionary, Latin impero‘to arrange, order, contrive, design’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimperōWiktionary, English imperate‘to command’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimperātusWiktionary, English imperate‘commanded’perfect passive participle of imperō
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1550imperateWiktionary, English imperate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1550, Iohne Rolland, The Thrid Buik: “Than Venus said in mind half stomachat, Of the…”

first attested First attested in 1543 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1543, as an adjective, as a verb in 1598; borrowed from Latin imperātus, perfect passive participle of imperō (‘to command’), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Latin parō ‘to arrange, order, contrive, design’

several, repair, separate, preparation, separation, apparel, apparatus, parachute, preparatory, inseparable, severance, pare, disparate, separator, rampart, separable, reparation, 18 more

through Latin imperō ‘to command’

empire, emperor, empress, 10 more

Today it means

verb To command.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “imperate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin impero. 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 *pr̥h₃o- / imperate

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