Etymograph

English

negator

Negator comes from Latin negātor ‘a denier’, and goes back to negō ‘deny, refuse’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegō1‘deny, refuse’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegātor2‘a denier’
  3. Englishtodaynegator2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin negator
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English negator

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegōWiktionary, Latin negator‘deny, refuse’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnegātorWiktionary, English negator‘a denier’
  3. EnglishtodaynegatorWiktionary, English negator

Formed from negate + -or

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 *né ‘not’

no, na, necessity, ne, 15 more

through Latin nec ‘nor’

negotiate, negotiator, 5 more

through Latin negō ‘deny, refuse’

renegade, renege, 7 more

Today it means

noun One who, or that which, negates.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “negator”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin negator. 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 / negator

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