English
describe
Describe comes from Old French descrivre ‘to describe’, and goes back to Latin dēscrībō.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēscrībō‘to copy off’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400descrivre‘to describe’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500descriven
- Englishearliest quotation 1611describe
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēscrībō‘to copy off’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400descrivre‘to describe’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500descriven
- Englishearliest quotation 1611describe
Earliest quotation: 1611, The Holy Bible, London: […] Robert Barker: “Passed through the land, and described it by cities…”
A compound of dē ‘off’ + scrībō ‘write’
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kréybʰeti
Proto-Italic *skreiβō ‘to carve’
Latin scrībō ‘write’
Linked words
through Latin dēscrībō ‘to copy off, transcribe, sketch off, describe…’
Today it means
verb To represent in words.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin dēscrībō / describe