Etymograph

English

saturate

Saturate comes from Middle English saturat(e) ‘satiated, satisfied’, from Latin satur ‘full, sated’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- ‘to satiate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂-1‘to satiate’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsatur1‘full, sated’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaturō2‘to fill, satisfy, quench’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaturātus2‘sated, satisfied’perfect passive participle of saturō
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500saturat(e)2‘satiated, satisfied’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1785saturate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin saturo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English saturate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1785, William Cowper, The Task: “The innocent are gay—the lark is gay, / That…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₂-Wiktionary, Latin saturo‘to satiate’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaturWiktionary, Latin saturo‘full, sated’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaturōWiktionary, English saturate‘to fill, satisfy, quench’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsaturātusWiktionary, English saturate‘sated, satisfied’perfect passive participle of saturō
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500saturat(e)Wiktionary, English saturate‘satiated, satisfied’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1785saturateWiktionary, English saturate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1785, William Cowper, The Task: “The innocent are gay—the lark is gay, / That…”

first attested The adjective is first attested in the second part of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English, the verb in 1538, the noun in 1921; inherited from Middle English saturat(e) (“satiated, satisfied”), borrowed from Latin saturātus, perfect passive participle of saturō (“to fill, satisfy, quench”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from satur (“full”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix) (as stated in Wiktionary’s etymology)

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₂- ‘to satiate’

sad, insane, secular, sane, sanity, sanitary, insatiable, hadron, sade, satiety, satiate, 19 more

Today it means

verb To cause to become completely permeated with, or soaked (especially with a liquid).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “saturate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin saturo. 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 *seh₂- / saturate

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