Etymograph

English

separate

Separate comes from Latin sēparātus ‘divided’, from sēparō (sē- ‘apart’ + parō ‘to prepare’), and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥h₃o-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr̥h₃o-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*paro-2reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparō1‘to arrange, prepare’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēparō2‘to divide, separate’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēparātus2‘divided’perfect passive participle of sēparō
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500separat2‘separated’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500separaten2‘to separate’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611separate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin separo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English separate
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pr̥h₃o-Wiktionary, Latin separoreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*paro-Wiktionary, English separatereconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparōWiktionary, Latin separo‘to arrange, prepare’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēparōWiktionary, English separate‘to divide, separate’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēparātusWiktionary, English separate‘divided’perfect passive participle of sēparō
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500separatWiktionary, English separate‘separated’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500separatenWiktionary, English separate‘to separate’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1611separateWiktionary, English separate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

Word family

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

through Latin parō ‘to arrange’

  • empire ← imperium ← imperō
  • emperor ← emperour ← emperour ← imperātorem ← imperō
  • imperial ← imperiālis ← imperium ← imperō
  • repair ← repairen ← reparer ← reparō
  • preparation ← preparacion ← preparacion ← praeparatio ← praeparatus
  • empress ← emperice ← empereriz ← imperatrix ← imperō
  • apparel ← apareillier ← *appariclāre ← apparō
  • apparatus ← apparō
  • parachute ← parare
  • preparatory ← preparatori ← praeparatorius ← praeparō
  • imperium ← imperō
  • imperious ← imperiōsus ← imperium ← imperō

30 more relatives in the full family tree

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Another origin of separate

  1. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500separat
  2. Englishtodayseparate

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Today it means

verb To divide (a thing) into separate parts.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “separate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin separo. 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 *pr̥h₃o- / separate