Etymograph

English

optime

Optime comes from Latin optimē ‘very well’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenos1‘good’reconstructed
  2. Archaic Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenos1
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduonus1
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbonus2as optimus‘very good’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoptimē3‘very well’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1994optime3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin bonus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin optime
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English optime
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1994, Michael J. Crowe, Courier Corporation: “The winning of even a single optime was very…”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwenosWiktionary, Latin bonus‘good’reconstructed
  2. Archaic Latinc. 700–75 BCEduenosWiktionary, Latin bonus
  3. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEduonusWiktionary, Latin bonus
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbonusWiktionary, Latin optimeas optimus‘very good’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoptimēWiktionary, English optime‘very well’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1994optimeWiktionary, English optime. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1994, Michael J. Crowe, Courier Corporation: “The winning of even a single optime was very…”

The story

Borrowed from Latin optimē (‘very well’), in the phrase optimē disputāstī (‘you have disputed very well’), formerly used in reporting results at Cambridge.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dewh₂- ‘to fit’

down, town, tool, teen, dynamic, dynasty, tow, dun, dynamo, dynastic, tine, taw, beaucoup, beauteous, 92 more

through Proto-Italic *dwenos ‘good’

beautiful, beauty, rebellion, boo, beau, rebellious, bello, rebelling, benefice, bauble, 37 more

through Archaic Latin duenos

ben, beneficial, rebel, beneficiary, revel, bene, bellicose, 38 more

through Latin bonus ‘very good’

bonus, bonnie, boon, bona, bonny, bonbon, 15 more

Today it means

noun A student who graduates with second class ("senior optime") or third class ("junior optime") honours in mathematics, or (loosely) in any other subject.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “optime”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin bonus, Latin optime. 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-Italic *dwenos / optime

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