English
surpass
Surpass comes from Middle French surpasser ‘to pass beyond’.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English surpass
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., The Tremarn Case: “Two or three months more went by; the public…”.
Lineage
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600surpasserWiktionary, English surpass‘to pass beyond’
- Englishearliest quotation 1904–1905surpassWiktionary, English surpass. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., The Tremarn Case: “Two or three months more went by; the public…”
Every English word from Middle French surpasser
Today it means
verb To go beyond or exceed (something) in an adjudicative or literal sense.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “surpass”. 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 / Middle French surpasser / surpass