Etymograph

English

prevaricator

Prevaricator comes from Latin praevaricator ‘a person who violates his duty’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraevaricator1‘a person who violates his duty’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1899prevaricator1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English prevaricator
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1899, Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness: “It was evident he took me for a perfectly…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpraevaricatorWiktionary, English prevaricator‘a person who violates his duty’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1899prevaricatorWiktionary, English prevaricator. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1899, Joseph Conrad, The Heart of Darkness: “It was evident he took me for a perfectly…”

Formed from prevaricate + -or

Proto-Italic *wāros

…

Latin vāricus ‘with feet spread apart’

Latin vāricō ‘to stand with feet apart, straddle’

Latin praevāricor ‘to walk crookedly’

Latin praevāricātus ‘having walked crookedly’

English prevaricate

Every English word from Latin praevaricator

Today it means

noun One who prevaricates.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “prevaricator”. 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 praevaricator / prevaricator

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