Etymograph

English

diffuse

Diffuse comes from Latin diffūsus ‘diffused or spread (throughout)’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiffūsus‘diffused or spread (throughout)’
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600diffuser
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1837diffuse

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiffūsus‘diffused or spread (throughout)’
  2. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600diffuser
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1837diffuse

Earliest quotation: 1837, William Whewell, Earliest Stages of Astronomy: “We do not know by whom the insufficiency of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *d(w)is- ‘in two, apart’

dissuade, 12 more

through Proto-Italic *dis-

debate, discover, discipline, disciplinary, disguise, disciple, dissent, diss, defraud, 13 more

Another origin of diffuse

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰewd-‘to pour’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰunédtireconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hundō‘to pour out’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfundō‘to pour out, shed’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiffundō‘to diffuse, scatter’
  6. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiffūsus‘diffused or spread (throughout)’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500*diffusereconstructed
  8. Englishtodaydiffuse

From Middle English *diffuse (attested in adverb diffuseli), from Latin diffūsus.

Today it means

verb To spread (something) over or through as in air, water, or other matter, especially by fluid motion or passive means.

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

Etymograph / Latin diffūsus / diffuse

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