Etymograph

English

season

Season comes from Middle English sesoun ‘time of the year’, from Latin satiō ‘act of sowing, planting’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₁-1‘to sow’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEserō1‘to sow’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsatum1past participle of serō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsatiō1‘act of sowing’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400seson1‘time of sowing’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sesoun1‘time of the year’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1589season1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English season
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1589, Richard Hakluyt, London: “When the male hath once ſeaſoned the female, he…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seh₁-Wiktionary, English season‘to sow’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEserōWiktionary, English season‘to sow’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsatumWiktionary, English seasonpast participle of serō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsatiōWiktionary, English season‘act of sowing’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400sesonWiktionary, English season‘time of sowing’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sesounWiktionary, English season‘time of the year’
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1589seasonWiktionary, English season. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1589, Richard Hakluyt, London: “When the male hath once ſeaſoned the female, he…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with season, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- ‘to sow, plant’

  • since ← syns ← sithen ← sīþþan ← þǣm
  • side ← *sīdǭ ← *sīdaz
  • earn ← ernen ← earnian ← *aʀanōn ← *azanōną
  • seed ← sēd ← *sād ← *sēdą
  • seminar ← sēminārium ← sēmen ← *sēmn̥ ← *séh₁mn̥
  • semen
  • seminal ← sēminālis ← sēmen ← *sēmn̥ ← *séh₁mn̥
  • sow ← sowen ← sāwan ← *sāan ← *sēaną
  • serene ← serein ← serein ← *serānum ← sērus
  • sower ← sowere ← sāwere ← sāwan ← *sāan

through Latin serō ‘to sow, plant’

34 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of season

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsatiō‘act of sowing, planting’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400saison
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentsaison
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentassaisonner‘to season’
  5. Englishtodayseason

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Today it means

noun Each of the divisions of a year based on the prevailing weather: spring, summer, autumn (fall) and winter; or the rainy (monsoon) and dry season, depending on the climate.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “season”. 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 *seh₁- / season