Etymograph

English

instance

Instance comes from Middle French instance, from Latin īnstantia ‘presence, urgency’, from īnstāns ‘urgent’, present participle of īnstō ‘to stand upon’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steh₂-1‘to stand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sth₂éh₁yeti1‘to stand’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*staēō1‘to stand’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstō1‘to stand’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnstō1‘to stand upon; to press’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnstantia2‘presence; urgency’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600instance2
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1594instance2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin instans
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English instance
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “The reason that I gather he is mad, Besides…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*steh₂-Wiktionary, Latin instans‘to stand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sth₂éh₁yetiWiktionary, Latin instans‘to stand’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*staēōWiktionary, Latin instans‘to stand’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstōWiktionary, Latin instans‘to stand’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnstōWiktionary, Latin instans‘to stand upon; to press’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnstantiaWiktionary, English instance‘presence; urgency’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600instanceWiktionary, English instance
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1594instanceWiktionary, English instance. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors: “The reason that I gather he is mad, Besides…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with instance, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- ‘to stand (up)’

  • system ← sisteme ← systēma ← σύστημα ← σῠνίστημῐ
  • state ← stat ← estat ← status ← *status
  • post ← postis ← *postis ← *h₂pó-sth₂-i-s
  • stay ← steyen ← estayer ← staeye
  • stand ← stonden ← standan ← *standan ← *standaną
  • stood ← stod ← stōd ← *stōþ ← *standaną
  • contest ← contester ← contestor ← testor ← testis
  • stadium ← στάδιον ← στάδιος
  • constitution ← constitucioun ← constitucion ← cōnstitūtiō ← cōnstituō
  • assistant ← assistent ← assister ← assistō ← sistō
  • assist ← assisten ← assister ← assistō ← sistō
  • consistent ← cōnsistēntem ← cōnsistō ← *kom- ← *kom

229 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun Urgency of manner or words; an urgent request; insistence.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “instance”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin instans. 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 *steh₂- / instance