Etymograph

English

perdition

Perdition comes from Old French perdiciun ‘the loss of one's soul, often to Satan’, from Late Latin perditio ‘ruin, destruction’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- ‘to give’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₃-1‘to give’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEperdo1‘to destroy, to lose’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEperditio1‘ruin, destruction’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400perdiciun1‘the loss of one's soul, often to Satan’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500perdicioun1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2009perdition1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English perdition
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2009, Ov Fire and the Void: “I son ov perdition / From sheer nothingness transgressed”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deh₃-Wiktionary, English perdition‘to give’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEperdoWiktionary, English perdition‘to destroy, to lose’
  3. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEperditioWiktionary, English perdition‘ruin, destruction’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400perdiciunWiktionary, English perdition‘the loss of one's soul, often to Satan’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500perdiciounWiktionary, English perdition
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2009perditionWiktionary, English perdition. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2009, Ov Fire and the Void: “I son ov perdition / From sheer nothingness transgressed”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- ‘to give’

data, date, add, die, rent, addition, dose, delicious, surrender, donate, vent, vendor, tradition, donor, treason, dow, render, donation, rendezvous, anecdote, dowry, antidote, condone, addendum, additive, rendition, dowager, endow, dative, dower, dacha, dati, sconce, 39 more

Today it means

noun Eternal damnation.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “perdition”. 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-Indo-European *deh₃- / perdition

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