Etymograph

English

lactate

Lactate comes from Latin lactātus ‘suckled’, and goes back to lac ‘milk’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElac1‘milk’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElactō2‘to suckle, give suck, contain milk’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElactātus2‘suckled’perfect passive participle of lactō
  4. Englishtodaylactate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin lacto
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English lactate

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElacWiktionary, Latin lacto‘milk’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElactōWiktionary, English lactate‘to suckle, give suck, contain milk’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElactātusWiktionary, English lactate‘suckled’perfect passive participle of lactō
  4. EnglishtodaylactateWiktionary, English lactate

Linked words

through Latin lac ‘milk’

lettuce, latte, lactose, lactic, spironolactone, 9 more

through Latin lactō ‘to suckle, give suck, contain milk’

delectable, dilettante, 5 more

Today it means

verb To secrete or produce milk.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “lactate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin lacto. 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 lac / lactate

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