English
natural
Natural comes from Old French natural, from Latin nātūrālis, from nātus, participle of nāscor ‘to be born’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāscor1‘to be born’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātus1‘born’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātūrālis1‘natural, by birth’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400natural1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500natural1‘intrinsic’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592natural1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English natural
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Whom should he follow but his naturall king.”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnāscorWiktionary, English natural‘to be born’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātusWiktionary, English natural‘born’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnātūrālisWiktionary, English natural‘natural, by birth’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400naturalWiktionary, English natural
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500naturalWiktionary, English natural‘intrinsic’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1591–1592naturalWiktionary, English natural. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Whom should he follow but his naturall king.”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with natural, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Latin nātus
5 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Existing in the nature of a person or thing; innate, not acquired or learned.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “natural”. 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 nāscor / natural