English
future
Future comes from Middle English future ‘a future action or doing’, from Latin futūrus ‘about to be, about to exist’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to become, be’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-‘to become’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsum‘to be’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfutūrus‘about to be’irregular future active participle of sum
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400futur
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500future‘a future action or doing’
- Englishearliest quotation 1908same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰuH-‘to become’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsum‘to be’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEfutūrus‘about to be’irregular future active participle of sum
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400futur
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500future‘a future action or doing’
- Englishearliest quotation 1908same form
Earliest quotation: 1908, William Blair Morton Ferguson, New York: “So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- ‘to become, be’
be, been, power, possible, build, physical, bond, bush, bound, represent, contribution, physician, presentation, booth, probability, favorable, fiat, distribute, bun, contributor, bouquet, favourable, imp, attribution, absentee, retribution, impotent, impossibility, bower, rebuke, absentia, beamer, bosque, aren, phylogeny, physic, phylum, approbation, busk, boor, 77 more
through Latin sum ‘to be’
present, improve, proud, essential, presence, pride, absence, entity, approve, absent, prowess, prude, prow, 13 more
Today it means
noun The time ahead; those moments yet to be experienced.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- / future