Etymograph

English

terror

Terror comes from Old French terreur ‘terror, fear, dread’, from Latin terreō ‘to frighten, terrify, alarm’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tres- ‘to tremble (with fear)’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tres-1‘to tremble (with fear)’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*troséyeti1‘to make scared, afraid’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*trozeō1‘to frighten, scare, terrify’next step skipped: Old Latin tr̥reō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterreō1‘to frighten, terrify, alarm’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterror1‘fright, fear, terror’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400terreur1‘terror, fear, dread’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600terreur1
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500terrour1‘a terror’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1788terror1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English terror
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1788, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq.: “The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tres-Wiktionary, English terror‘to tremble (with fear)’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*troséyetiWiktionary, English terror‘to make scared, afraid’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*trozeōWiktionary, English terror‘to frighten, scare, terrify’next step skipped: Old Latin tr̥reō
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterreōWiktionary, English terror‘to frighten, terrify, alarm’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterrorWiktionary, English terror‘fright, fear, terror’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400terreurWiktionary, English terror‘terror, fear, dread’
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600terreurWiktionary, English terror
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500terrourWiktionary, English terror‘a terror’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1788terrorWiktionary, English terror. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1788, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq.: “The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from…”

Linked words

through Latin terreō ‘to frighten, terrify, alarm’

terrible, terribly, terrific, 5 more

Today it means

noun Intense dread, fright, or fear.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “terror”. 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 *tres- / terror

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