Etymograph

English

syndicate

Syndicate comes from French syndicat ‘office of a syndic’, from Ancient Greek σῠ́νδῐκος ‘advocate, barrister, lawyer, pleader’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- ‘to point out, to show’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deyḱ-1‘to point out, to show’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*díḱeh₂2reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*díkā2reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδῐ́κη1dĭ́kē‘custom, manner, fashion’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσῠ́νδῐκος1sŭ́ndĭkos‘advocate, barrister, lawyer, pleader’
  6. Late Latinmodernsyndicu1
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentsyndic1‘syndic, representative’
  8. Frenchc. 1600–presentsyndicat3‘office of a syndic’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1686syndicate3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, French syndicat
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek δίκη
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English syndicate
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1686, Gilbert Burnet, Some Letters Containing: “The ſoveraintie lies in the Council of 200, and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deyḱ-Wiktionary, French syndicat‘to point out, to show’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*díḱeh₂Wiktionary, Ancient Greek δίκηreconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*díkāWiktionary, Ancient Greek δίκηreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδῐ́κηWiktionary, French syndicatdĭ́kē‘custom, manner, fashion’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσῠ́νδῐκοςWiktionary, French syndicatsŭ́ndĭkos‘advocate, barrister, lawyer, pleader’
  6. Late LatinmodernsyndicuWiktionary, French syndicat
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentsyndicWiktionary, French syndicat‘syndic, representative’
  8. Frenchc. 1600–presentsyndicatWiktionary, English syndicate‘office of a syndic’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1686syndicateWiktionary, English syndicate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1686, Gilbert Burnet, Some Letters Containing: “The ſoveraintie lies in the Council of 200, and…”

The story

Anglicized from French syndicat (‘office of a syndic; board of syndics; trade union’) on the basis of -ate (forms nouns denoting rank or office, a group formed of people of this same office), equivalent to syndic (‘syndic; representative; (especially) chief magistrate of Geneva’) + -at (“-ate”, forms nouns denoting rank or office), from Medieval Latin *syndicātus, from syndicus (‘representative of a corporation or town; syndic’) (from Ancient Greek σύνδικος (súndikos, “advocate for a defendant”), from σύν (sún, “beside; with”) + δίκη (díkē, “judgment; justice”)) + -ātus (‘-ate’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *deyḱ- ‘to point out, to show’

teach, index, toe, token, dictionary, predict, digit, indicate, indication, addict, contradictory, contradiction, dictator, ditto, indicator, contradict, dictate, indicative, ditty, diction, predicate, dictum, tache, interdict, dict, indicia, 34 more

Another origin of syndicate

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*deyḱ-‘to point out, to show’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*díḱeh₂reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*díkāreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEδῐ́κηdĭ́kē‘custom, manner, fashion’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσῠ́νδῐκοςsŭ́ndĭkos‘advocate, barrister, lawyer, pleader’
  6. Late Latinmodernsyndicu
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentsyndic‘syndic, representative’
  8. Frenchc. 1600–presentsyndicat‘syndicship’
  9. Frenchc. 1600–presentsyndiquer‘to syndicate’
  10. Englishtodaysyndicate

Today it means

noun A group of individuals or companies formed to transact some specific business, or to promote a common interest; a self-coordinating group.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “syndicate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for French syndicat, Ancient Greek δίκη. 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 *deyḱ- / syndicate

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