Etymograph

English

suit

Suit comes from Middle English sute ‘matching clothes’, from Anglo-Norman suite, from Vulgar Latin *sequita, from Latin sequor ‘to follow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sekʷ-1‘to follow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sékʷetor1‘to be following’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekʷōr1‘to follow’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsequor1‘to follow’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*sequita1reconstructed
  6. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400suite1
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sute1‘clothes, matching clothing’
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588suit1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English suit
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Tam[burlaine]. Are you the wittie King of Perſea? Myc[etes].…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sekʷ-Wiktionary, English suit‘to follow’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sékʷetorWiktionary, English suit‘to be following’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*sekʷōrWiktionary, English suit‘to follow’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsequorWiktionary, English suit‘to follow’
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*sequitaWiktionary, English suitreconstructed
  6. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400suiteWiktionary, English suit
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500suteWiktionary, English suit‘clothes, matching clothing’
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588suitWiktionary, English suit. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Tam[burlaine]. Are you the wittie King of Perſea? Myc[etes].…”

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- ‘to follow’

  • see ← seen ← sēon ← *sehwan ← *sehwaną
  • say ← saien ← seċġan ← *saggjan ← *sagjaną
  • second ← secunde ← secundus ← *sekʷondo-
  • social ← sociālis ← socius ← sokios ← *sokjos
  • saw ← sawe ← saga ← *sagā ← *sagǭ
  • society ← societé ← societé ← societās ← socius
  • executive ← executif ← executivus ← exsequi
  • sight ← sighte ← sihþ ← *sihti ← *sehwan
  • associate ← associat ← associātus ← associō ← sociō
  • subsequent ← subsequēns
  • consequence ← consequentia ← cōnsequēns
  • consequently ← consequentely

75 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A set of clothes to be worn together, now especially a man's matching jacket and trousers (also business suit or lounge suit), or a similar outfit for a woman.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “suit”. 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 *sekʷ- / suit