English
figure
Figure comes from Old French figure, from Latin figūra ‘form, shape’, from fingō ‘to shape’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeyǵʰ-‘to mold, knead’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfingō‘to form, shape’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfigūra‘form, shape’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400figure
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500figure‘shape’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588figure
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeyǵʰ-‘to mold, knead’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfingō‘to form, shape’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfigūra‘form, shape’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400figure
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500figure‘shape’
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588figure
Earliest quotation: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “His loftie browes in foldes, do figure death, And…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- ‘to knead’
lady, fiction, paradise, dairy, dough, faint, fictitious, dey, feint, effigy, feign, figment, 26 more
through Latin figūra ‘form, shape, form of a word, a figure of…’
Today it means
noun A drawing or diagram conveying information.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰeyǵʰ- / figure