Etymograph

English

merit

Merit comes from Latin meritum ‘that which one deserves, deserts’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- ‘to allot, assign’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mer-1‘to allot, assign’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmereō1‘to deserve, earn, obtain, merit’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmeritus1‘deserved, earned, obtained’perfect passive participle of mereō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmeritum1‘that which one deserves, deserts’neuter of meritus
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400merit1
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500merit1
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604merit1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English merit
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello: “[R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition ,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mer-Wiktionary, English merit‘to allot, assign’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmereōWiktionary, English merit‘to deserve, earn, obtain, merit’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmeritusWiktionary, English merit‘deserved, earned, obtained’perfect passive participle of mereō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmeritumWiktionary, English merit‘that which one deserves, deserts’neuter of meritus
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400meritWiktionary, English merit
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500meritWiktionary, English merit
  7. Englishearliest quotation c. 1603–1604meritWiktionary, English merit. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1603–1604, William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello: “[R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition ,…”

The story

The English word is probably cognate with Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “component, part; portion, share; destiny, fate, lot”) and cognate with Old Occitan merit.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- ‘to allot, assign’

memory, memorable, memoir, martyr, mourn, memorandum, memorabilia, mora, mer, memoria, 14 more

through Latin mereō ‘to deserve, earn, obtain, merit’

emeritus, 6 more

Another origin of merit

  1. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600meriter‘to merit’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500meriten
  3. Englishtodaymerit

The word is cognate with Italian meritare (‘to deserve, merit; to be worth; to earn’), Latin meritāre (‘to earn regularly; to serve as a soldier’), Spanish meritar (‘to deserve, merit; to earn’).

Today it means

noun A claim to commendation or a reward.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “merit”. 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 *(s)mer- / merit

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