Etymograph

English

supervise

Supervise comes from Latin super ‘[of place] above’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘over’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*upér1‘over’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*super1‘above’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuper2‘[of place] above’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500supervisus2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590supervise2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin super
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English supervise
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost: “Let me supervise the canzonet.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*upérWiktionary, Latin super‘over’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*superWiktionary, Latin super‘above’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuperWiktionary, English supervise‘[of place] above’
  4. Medieval Latinc. 600–1500supervisusWiktionary, English supervise
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1590superviseWiktionary, English supervise. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost: “Let me supervise the canzonet.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘over’

over, uber, 18 more

through Proto-Italic *super ‘above’

supreme, summary, consummate, supra, summa, 14 more

through Latin super ‘[of place] above’

sovereign, soprano, superiority, 13 more

Today it means

verb To oversee or direct (a task or organization).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “supervise”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin super. 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 *upér / supervise

Shirt and support for this word