Etymograph

English

procrastinate

Procrastinate comes from Latin prōcrastinō ‘defer, put off till tomorrow’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘head, top’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-1‘head, top’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krās1‘tomorrow’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrās2‘tomorrow’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrāstinus2‘􂀿the day􂁀 of tomorrow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcrastinō3‘defer, put off till tomorrow’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcrastinātus3perfect passive participle of prōcrastinō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1816procrastinate3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cras
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin procrastino
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English procrastinate
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1816, John Pickering, A vocabulary; or: “Hence It became manifest to the publishers of Webster,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-Wiktionary, Latin cras‘head, top’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krāsWiktionary, Latin cras‘tomorrow’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrāsWiktionary, Latin procrastino‘tomorrow’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrāstinusWiktionary, Latin procrastino‘􂀿the day􂁀 of tomorrow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcrastinōWiktionary, English procrastinate‘defer, put off till tomorrow’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcrastinātusWiktionary, English procrastinateperfect passive participle of prōcrastinō
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1816procrastinateWiktionary, English procrastinate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1816, John Pickering, A vocabulary; or: “Hence It became manifest to the publishers of Webster,…”

first attested First attested in 1548 (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

The story

First attested in 1548; from Latin prōcrastinātus, perfect passive participle of prōcrastinō (‘defer, put off till tomorrow’) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from prō- (‘in favor of’) + crāstinus (‘of or belonging to tomorrow’) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from crās (‘tomorrow’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘head, top’

horn, cheer, hart, cerebral, grail, corny, migraine, crater, cornea, cairn, cornet, cerebellum, carotid, cranium, cerebrum, keratin, rother, 51 more

Today it means

verb To delay taking action; to wait until later.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “procrastinate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin cras, Latin procrastino. 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 *ḱerh₂- / procrastinate

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