Etymograph

English

structure

Structure comes from Middle French structure, from Latin structūra ‘a fitting together, building’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *strew- ‘to spread out’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*strew-1‘to strew, spread out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*strowō1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstruō2as struere‘to pile up; to build’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstructūra2‘a fitting together, building’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600structure2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1963structure2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin struo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English structure
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “The original family who had begun to build a…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*strew-Wiktionary, Latin struo‘to strew, spread out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*strowōWiktionary, Latin struoreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstruōWiktionary, English structureas struere‘to pile up; to build’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstructūraWiktionary, English structure‘a fitting together, building’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600structureWiktionary, English structure
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1963structureWiktionary, English structure. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “The original family who had begun to build a…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *strew- ‘to strew, to spread out’

strain, straw, stray, constructive, obstruction, obstruct, perestroika, stripling, misconstrue, 8 more

through Proto-Italic *strowō ‘to pile up’

destroyer, 2 more

through Latin struō ‘to place one thing on top of another, to pile…’

construction, destroy, instrument, destruction, instructor, construct, destructive, instruct, construe, 4 more

Today it means

noun A cohesive whole built up of distinct parts.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “structure”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin struo. 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 *strew- / structure

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