Etymograph

English

supply

Supply comes from Latin suppleo ‘to fill up, make full, complete, supply’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₁-1‘to fill’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*plēō1‘to fill’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpleō1‘to fill’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuppleo2‘to fill up’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400soupleer2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500supplien2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1666supply2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin suppleo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English supply
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1666, Edmund Waller: “Burning ships the banished sun supply.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₁-Wiktionary, Latin suppleo‘to fill’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*plēōWiktionary, Latin suppleo‘to fill’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpleōWiktionary, Latin suppleo‘to fill’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuppleoWiktionary, English supply‘to fill up’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400soupleerWiktionary, English supply
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500supplienWiktionary, English supply
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1666supplyWiktionary, English supply. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1666, Edmund Waller: “Burning ships the banished sun supply.”

The story

The Middle English spelling was modified to conform to Latin etymology.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

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

through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- ‘to fill’

  • public ← publik
  • full ← ful ← *fullaz ← *pl̥h₁nós
  • complete ← compleet ← complet
  • plus ← plous ← *plēōs ← *pléh₁yōs
  • fill ← fillen ← fyllan ← *fullijan ← *fullijaną
  • plenty ← plentie ← plenté ← plenté ← plēnitātem
  • poll ← πολλοί ← *polh₁ús
  • popularity ← popularitas ← populāris ← populus ← populus
  • folk ← folc ← *fulką ← *pl̥h₁-gós
  • plain ← pleyn ← plein ← plēnus ← *plēnos
  • comply ← complire ← complēre ← compleō ← *ḱóm
  • ample ← amplus ← ambiplus ← plēnus ← *plēnos

123 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

verb To provide (something), to make (something) available for use.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “supply”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin suppleo. 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 *pleh₁- / supply