English
explanation
Explanation comes, probably, from Latin explānātiō ‘explanation’, from explānō ‘to explain’; equivalent to explain + -ation.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplānōas explanare‘to explain’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplānātiō‘explanation, interpretation’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1815explanation
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplānōas explanare‘to explain’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEexplānātiō‘explanation, interpretation’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1815explanation
Earliest quotation: 1815, Jane Austen, Emma: “This little explanation with Mr. Knightley gave Emma considerable…”
Formed from explain + -ation
Latin plānus ‘level, plain’
Latin plānō ‘to flatten’
Latin explānō ‘to make plain, explain’
Old French explaner
Middle English explanen
English explain
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- ‘flat’
field, floor, palm, planet, clan, archipelago, fluke, parma, playa, placenta, flounder, lech, pelagic, palatine, implacable, polonium, placate, flay, veld, plantar, floe, purdah, planta, 48 more
through Proto-Italic *plānos
through Latin plānus ‘level, flat, even’
through Latin explanō ‘explain’
Today it means
noun The act or process of explaining.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin explānō / explanation