Etymograph

English

inundate

Inundate comes from Latin inundātus ‘overflowed’, from undō ‘to surge, flow’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘water’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wed-1‘water’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*udn-om2‘body of water’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEunda3‘water(s)’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEundō3‘to surge, flow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinundō1‘to flood, overflow’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinundātus1‘overflowed’perfect passive participle of inundō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1852inundate1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English inundate
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin unda
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin inundo
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1852, The New Monthly Magazine: “I don't know any quarter in England where you…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wed-Wiktionary, English inundate‘water’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*udn-omWiktionary, Latin unda‘body of water’uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEundaWiktionary, Latin inundo‘water(s)’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEundōWiktionary, Latin inundo‘to surge, flow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinundōWiktionary, English inundate‘to flood, overflow’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinundātusWiktionary, English inundate‘overflowed’perfect passive participle of inundō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1852inundateWiktionary, English inundate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1852, The New Monthly Magazine: “I don't know any quarter in England where you…”

first attested First attested in 1623 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin inundātus, the perfect passive participle of inundō (‘to flood, overflow’) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- + undō (‘to overflow, wave’), from unda (‘wave’) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *wed- ‘water’

water, wet, wash, vodka, hydro, otter, vitriol, hydrate, hydride, vitreous, aldehyde, vedra, 44 more

through Latin unda ‘water(s)’

und, undine, 10 more

through Latin undō ‘to surge, flow’

surround, abundance, abundant, redundant, undated, 4 more

Today it means

verb To cover with large amounts of water; to flood.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “inundate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin unda, Latin inundo. 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 *wed- / inundate

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