Etymograph

English

format

Format comes via French and German Format from New Latin liber fōrmātus ‘a shaped book’, from fōrmō ‘to shape’, from fōrma ‘form’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfōrma‘form, shape’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfōrmō‘to shape, fashion’
  3. New Latinc. 1500–1900liber fōrmātus‘book shaped (in a given way)’
  4. Germanc. 1650–presentFormat‘format’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentformat‘format’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1896same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfōrma‘form, shape’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfōrmō‘to shape, fashion’
  3. New Latinc. 1500–1900liber fōrmātus‘book shaped (in a given way)’
  4. Germanc. 1650–presentFormat‘format’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentformat‘format’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1896same form

Earliest quotation: 1896, George Haven Putnam: “The older manuscripts had been written in a much…”

Linked words

through Ancient Greek μορφή ‘shape, form’

morphology, morph, 31 more

through Etruscan *morma

uniformity, 20 more

through Latin fōrma ‘form’

formula, uniform, informatics, fromage, deformable, 25 more

through New Latin fōrmō ‘to shape, fashion’

information, reform, transformation, inform, deform, 7 more

through New Latin liber ‘book fashioned’

library, liberal, liberty, libel, liberate, libre, liber, 13 more

Today it means

noun The layout of a publication or document.

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

Etymograph / Latin fōrma / format

Shirt and support for this word