Etymograph

English

tacet

Tacet comes from Latin tacet ‘it is silent’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *takēō.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*takēō1‘to be silent’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtaceō2‘to be silent’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtacet2‘it is silent’
  4. Englishtodaytacet2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin taceo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English tacet

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*takēōWiktionary, Latin taceo‘to be silent’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtaceōWiktionary, English tacet‘to be silent’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtacetWiktionary, English tacet‘it is silent’
  4. EnglishtodaytacetWiktionary, English tacet

Linked words

through Latin taceō ‘to be silent’

reticent, 1 more

Today it means

verb An instruction indicating silence on the part of the performers of a piece.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tacet”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin taceo. 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-Italic *takēō / tacet

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