Etymograph

English

sure

Sure comes from Middle English sure, from Middle French sur or Old French seür, and ultimately from Latin sēcūrus ‘secure, carefree’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēcūrus1‘secure, carefree’literally ‘carefree’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400seür1‘sure, secure’uncertain
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sure1
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588sure1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sure
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Theſe are the wings ſhall make it flie as…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsēcūrusWiktionary, English sure‘secure, carefree’literally ‘carefree’
  2. Old Frenchc. 842–1400seürWiktionary, English sure‘sure, secure’uncertain
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sureWiktionary, English sure
  4. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588sureWiktionary, English sure. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “Theſe are the wings ſhall make it flie as…”

The story

From Middle English sure, seur, sur, from Middle French sur or Old French seür, from Latin sēcūrus (“secure”, literally “carefree”), from sē- (‘apart’) + cūra (‘care’) (compare Old English orsorg (‘carefree’), from or- (‘without’) + sorg (‘care’)).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- ‘to heed’

shire, curate, 7 more

through Proto-Italic *kʷoizā ‘care’

procurement, manicure, procurator, 7 more

through Latin cūra ‘care’

proxy, cure, curator, incurable, curation, 11 more

through Latin sēcūrus ‘secure’

security, secure, sicker, 5 more

Today it means

adj Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sure”. 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 / Latin sēcūrus / sure

Shirt and support for this word