Etymograph

English

accustom

Accustom comes from Old French acoustumer ‘to get used to’.

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400acoustumer‘to get used to’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500accustomen
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1609accustom

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400acoustumer‘to get used to’
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500accustomen
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1609accustom

Earliest quotation: 1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall: “all of them accustoming , once in the year…”

The story

The verb is from Middle English accustomen, from Old French acoustumer, acustumer (Modern French accoutumer) corresponding to a (‘to, toward’) + custom.

Every English word from Old French acoustumer

Today it means

verb To make familiar by use; to cause to accept; to habituate, familiarize, or inure.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Old French acoustumer / accustom

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