Etymograph

English

mission

Mission is a learned borrowing from Latin missiō ‘a sending, dispatching’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmissiō1as missiō‘a sending, dispatching’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1627mission1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English mission
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1627, New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.: “[I]n either of theſe Ships, there ſhould be a…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmissiōWiktionary, English missionas missiō‘a sending, dispatching’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1627missionWiktionary, English mission. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1627, New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.: “[I]n either of theſe Ships, there ſhould be a…”

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *meitō ‘to put forth, put out’

unremitting, 26 more

through Old Latin mītō

remit, commissariat, 27 more

through Latin mittō ‘to send, dispatch, cause to go, let go,…’

committee, admit, mess, commit, transmit, premise, intermittent, dismiss, emit, omit, amit, commissary, commissar, permissive, remiss, 36 more

Today it means

noun A set of tasks that fulfills a purpose or duty; an assignment set by an employer, or by oneself.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mission”. 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 missiō / mission

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