English
relevant
Relevant comes from Scots relevant ‘legally pertinent’, from Latin relevāns, present participle of relevō ‘to lift up’, from levō, from levis ‘light’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElevis1‘light’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElevō2‘to raise, lighten’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErelevō2‘to raise, lighten’
- Scotsc. 1450–presentrelevant2
- Englishearliest quotation 1973relevant2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin levo
- 2 Wiktionary, English relevant
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1973, Hansen says Christmas time for thanks, hope: “The message of Christmas is still relevant as we…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElevisWiktionary, Latin levo‘light’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElevōWiktionary, English relevant‘to raise, lighten’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErelevōWiktionary, English relevant‘to raise, lighten’
- Scotsc. 1450–presentrelevantWiktionary, English relevant
- Englishearliest quotation 1973relevantWiktionary, English relevant. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1973, Hansen says Christmas time for thanks, hope: “The message of Christmas is still relevant as we…”
first attested From Scots relevant meaning "legally pertinent," used in Scottish legal circles starting in the early 1500s, and first used in English in the 1700s (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)
The story
From Scots relevant meaning "legally pertinent," used in Scottish legal circles starting in the early 1500s, and first used in English in the 1700s.
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with relevant, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- ‘lightweight’
- light ← liȝt ← lēht ← *lį̄ht ← *linhtaz
- lung ← lunge ← lungen ← *lunganjō ← *lungô
- obliterate ← obliterātus
through Latin levis ‘light, not heavy’
68 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Related, connected, or pertinent to a topic.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “relevant”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin levo. 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 levis / relevant