English
fuel
Fuel comes from Old French fouaille ‘firewood’, from feu ‘fire’, from Late Latin focus ‘fire’, from Latin focus ‘hearth’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfocus‘hearth’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfocus‘fire’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400feu‘fire’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400fouaille‘firewood’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fuayle‘fuel’
- Englishearliest quotation 1957fuel
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfocus‘hearth’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEfocus‘fire’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400feu‘fire’
- Old French, derivedc. 842–1400fouaille‘firewood’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fuayle‘fuel’
- Englishearliest quotation 1957fuel
Earliest quotation: 1957, Neville Shute: “[…] Lieutenant Hirsch appeared with a sheaf of signals…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine’
phone, professor, famous, ben, phase, favor, favourite, ban, fantasy, fate, fancy, fame, photographer, emphasis, phenomenon, profession, fatal, bee, fairy, fabulous, abandon, infant, confession, confess, phantom, symphony, beacon, beck, boon, eff, fab, fay, bane, prophetic, epiphany, fable, banish, buoy, nefarious, profess, 125 more
through Late Latin focus ‘fire’
Today it means
noun Substance consumed to provide energy through combustion, or through chemical or nuclear reaction.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin focus / fuel