English
regress
Regress comes from Latin regredior ‘to go back’, from gradior ‘to go’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- ‘to walk, go’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰredʰ-1‘to walk, go’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgradior2‘to go’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEregredior2‘to go back’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEregressus2past participle of regredior
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597regress2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin gradior
- 2 Wiktionary, English regress
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “Thou shalt have egresse and regresse.”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰredʰ-Wiktionary, Latin gradior‘to walk, go’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEgradiorWiktionary, English regress‘to go’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEregrediorWiktionary, English regress‘to go back’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEregressusWiktionary, English regresspast participle of regredior
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1597regressWiktionary, English regress. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wiues of Windsor: “Thou shalt have egresse and regresse.”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gʰredʰ- ‘to walk, go’
graduate, degree, progressive, progression, retrograde, gradation, gree, digression, 24 more
through Latin gradior ‘to go’
congress, progress, ingredient, gradient, aggression, aggressor, digress, 25 more
Today it means
noun The act of passing back; passage back; return; retrogression.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “regress”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin gradior. 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 *gʰredʰ- / regress