Etymograph

English

parachute

Parachute comes from Italian parare, and goes back to Latin parō ‘to shield’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparō1‘to shield’
  2. Italianc. 1300–presentparare1
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentparachute2
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1998parachute2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French para-
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English parachute
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1998, Guillaume Dustan, In My Room: “Under that there are dildos and butt-plugs arranged by…”.

Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparōWiktionary, French para-‘to shield’
  2. Italianc. 1300–presentparareWiktionary, French para-
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentparachuteWiktionary, English parachute
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1998parachuteWiktionary, English parachute. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1998, Guillaume Dustan, In My Room: “Under that there are dildos and butt-plugs arranged by…”

Linked words

through Latin parō ‘to shield’

several, empire, emperor, repair, imperial, separate, preparation, separation, empress, apparel, apparatus, preparatory, severance, inseparable, imperium, imperious, disparate, separator, pare, rampart, reparation, imperator, separable, 15 more

Today it means

noun A device, generally constructed from fabric, that is designed to employ air resistance to control the fall of an object or person, causing them to float instead of falling.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “parachute”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for French para-. 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 parō / parachute

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