Etymograph

English

launch

Launch comes from Middle English launchen ‘to throw as a lance’, from Old Northern French lanchier, a variant of Old French lancier, from lance.

  1. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400lanchier1
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500launchen2‘to throw as a lance’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1591launch2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Middle English launchen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English launch
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, Edmund Spenser: “And launch your hearts with lamentable wounds.”.

Lineage

  1. Old Northern Frenchc. 842–1400lanchierWiktionary, Middle English launchen
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500launchenWiktionary, English launch‘to throw as a lance’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1591launchWiktionary, English launch. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, Edmund Spenser: “And launch your hearts with lamentable wounds.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂k- ‘to hit’

plant, peel, plague, fling, lancet, lancer, plaintive, 9 more

through Latin lancea ‘The Roman auxiliaries' short javelin’

lance, 6 more

Another origin of launch

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₂k-‘to hit’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElancea‘spear’uncertain
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CElanceāre‘to throw a spear’uncertain
  4. Old Galician-Portuguesec. 1100–1500lançar‘to throw’uncertain
  5. Portuguesec. 1500–presentlançar‘to launch’uncertain
  6. Malaymodernlancar‘quick, agile’uncertain
  7. Portuguesec. 1500–presentlancha‘barge, launch’
  8. Englishtodaylaunch

Spelling influenced by the verb above.

Today it means

verb To throw (a projectile such as a lance, dart or ball); to hurl; to propel with force.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “launch”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Middle English launchen. 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 / Old Northern French lanchier / launch

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