Etymograph

English

procurement

Procurement comes from Old French procurer ‘to procure’, from Latin prōcūrō ‘to take care of, attend to, look after any thing’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- ‘to see’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷeys-1‘to see’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kʷoizā1‘care’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcūra1
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcūrō1‘to arrange, see to, attend to, take care of, look after, ensure, tend to’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcūrō2‘to take care of, attend to, look after any thing’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400procurer3‘to procure’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400procurement3
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500procurement3‘the act of inciting someone’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1675procurement3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin procuro
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old French procurer
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English procurement
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […]: “They think it done by her procurement.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷeys-Wiktionary, Latin procuro‘to see’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kʷoizāWiktionary, Latin procuro‘care’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcūraWiktionary, Latin procuro
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcūrōWiktionary, Latin procuro‘to arrange, see to, attend to, take care of, look after, ensure, tend to’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcūrōWiktionary, Old French procurer‘to take care of, attend to, look after any thing’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400procurerWiktionary, English procurement‘to procure’
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400procurementWiktionary, English procurement
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500procurementWiktionary, English procurement‘the act of inciting someone’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1675procurementWiktionary, English procurement. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […]: “They think it done by her procurement.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- ‘to see’

shire, curate, 4 more

through Proto-Italic *kʷoizā ‘care’

ensure, assure, insure, 4 more

through Latin cūra

sure, security, secure, curator, sicker, manicure, 8 more

through Latin cūrō ‘to arrange, see to, attend to, take care of,…’

accurate, cure, incurable, curation, 4 more

through Latin prōcūrō ‘to take care of, attend to, look after any thing’

proxy, procurator, 2 more

Today it means

noun The purchasing department of a company.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “procurement”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin procuro, Old French procurer. 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 *kʷeys- / procurement

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