Etymograph

English

ingrate

Ingrate comes from Latin ingrātus ‘disagreeable’, from grātus ‘pleasing’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- ‘to welcome, greet, praise’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷerH-1‘to welcome, greet, praise’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷr̥H-tó-s1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷrātos1‘grateful, thankful’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgrātus2‘pleasing’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEingrātus2‘disagreeable’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ingrat2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1536ingrate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin gratus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English ingrate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1536, Hugh Latimer: “Many of theſe might ſeem ingrate and unkind children,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷerH-Wiktionary, Latin gratus‘to welcome, greet, praise’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷr̥H-tó-sWiktionary, Latin gratusreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*gʷrātosWiktionary, Latin gratus‘grateful, thankful’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgrātusWiktionary, English ingrate‘pleasing’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEingrātusWiktionary, English ingrate‘disagreeable’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ingratWiktionary, English ingrate
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1536ingrateWiktionary, English ingrate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1536, Hugh Latimer: “Many of theſe might ſeem ingrate and unkind children,…”

first attested First attested in 1393 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1393, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English ingrat, from Latin ingrātus (‘disagreeable’), from in- (‘not’) + grātus (‘pleasing’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH- ‘to welcome, greet, praise’

agree, 10 more

through Latin grātus ‘pleasing’

agreement, grace, gratitude, gracious, congratulate, gratuitous, gracias, gratis, congratulation, gree, 8 more

Today it means

adj Ungrateful.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ingrate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin gratus. 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 *gʷerH- / ingrate

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