Etymograph

English

pression

Pression comes from Latin pressiō ‘a pressing, pressure’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pres-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pres-1‘to press’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pres-1uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremō1‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress, overwhelm’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpressiō2‘a pressing, pressure’
  5. Englishtodaypression2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin pressio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English pression

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pres-Wiktionary, Latin pressio‘to press’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pres-Wiktionary, Latin pressiouncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpremōWiktionary, Latin pressio‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress, overwhelm’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpressiōWiktionary, English pression‘a pressing, pressure’
  5. EnglishtodaypressionWiktionary, English pression

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pres- ‘to press’

first, frist, impressionistic, 34 more

through Proto-Italic *pres-

impressionable, impressionist, impressionism, expressionism, 36 more

through Latin premō ‘to press, push, press close or hard, oppress,…’

pregnant, express, impressive, imprint, impress, sprain, reprimand, depressive, compress, depress, imprimatur, repress, 40 more

Today it means

noun Pressure or an act of applying pressure.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pression”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin pressio. 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 *pres- / pression

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