Etymograph

English

trace

Trace comes from Old French trace ‘an outline, track, trace’.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400trace1‘an outline, track, trace’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500trace1‘an track that isn't demarcated’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1963trace1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English trace
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “The highway to the East Coast which ran through…”.

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400traceWiktionary, English trace‘an outline, track, trace’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500traceWiktionary, English trace‘an track that isn't demarcated’
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1963traceWiktionary, English trace. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1963, Margery Allingham, London: Chatto & Windus: “The highway to the East Coast which ran through…”

Every English word from Old French trace

Another origin of trace

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tracer
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tracen‘to track or trace something’
  3. Englishtodaytrace

Today it means

noun An act of tracing.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “trace”. 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 / Old French trace / trace

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