English
impute
Impute comes from Latin imputō ‘to bring into the reckoning, charge, impute’, from putō ‘esteem, consider’, and ultimately from putus.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEputus1
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEputō1‘esteem, consider’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimputō2‘to bring into the reckoning, charge, impute’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600imputer2
- Englishearliest quotation 1751impute2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin imputo
- 2 Wiktionary, English impute
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: “Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,…”.
Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEputusWiktionary, Latin imputo
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEputōWiktionary, Latin imputo‘esteem, consider’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimputōWiktionary, English impute‘to bring into the reckoning, charge, impute’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600imputerWiktionary, English impute
- Englishearliest quotation 1751imputeWiktionary, English impute. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard: “Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,…”
Linked words
through Latin putus
discount, counter, countable, puta, 8 more
through Latin putō ‘esteem, consider’
account, count, dispute, computation, putative, indisputable, compute, amputation, indisputably, raconteur, repute, amputee, disputation, disputable, amputate, depute, 10 more
through Latin imputō ‘to bring into the reckoning, charge, impute’
Today it means
verb To attribute or ascribe (responsibility or fault) to a cause or source.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “impute”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin imputo. 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 putus / impute