English
negation
Negation comes from Latin negātiō ‘a denial’, and goes back to negō ‘deny, refuse’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegō1‘deny, refuse’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegātiō2‘a denial’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400negacion2
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500negacioun2
- Englishearliest quotation 1909negation2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin negatio
- 2 Wiktionary, English negation
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1909, Thomas Hardy: “But it pleased her to play on my passion…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegōWiktionary, Latin negatio‘deny, refuse’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegātiōWiktionary, English negation‘a denial’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400negacionWiktionary, English negation
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500negaciounWiktionary, English negation
- Englishearliest quotation 1909negationWiktionary, English negation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1909, Thomas Hardy: “But it pleased her to play on my passion…”
Formed from negate + -ion
Proto-Indo-European *néh₁
…
Archaic Latin nei
Latin ne ‘not’
Latin negō ‘to deny, refuse, decline’
Latin negātus ‘refused, declined, having been said no to’
English negate
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵ- ‘to say’
deny, adage, prodigious, 3 more
through Latin nec ‘nor’
through Latin negō ‘deny, refuse’
Today it means
noun The act of negating something.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “negation”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin negatio. 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 negō / negation