English
procrastinate
Procrastinate comes from Latin prōcrastinō ‘defer, put off till tomorrow’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *krās.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krās‘tomorrow’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrās‘tomorrow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrāstinus‘the day of tomorrow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcrastinō‘defer, put off till tomorrow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcrastinātusperfect passive participle of prōcrastinō
- Englishearliest quotation 1816procrastinate
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krās‘tomorrow’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrās‘tomorrow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcrāstinus‘the day of tomorrow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcrastinō‘defer, put off till tomorrow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōcrastinātusperfect passive participle of prōcrastinō
- Englishearliest quotation 1816procrastinate
Earliest quotation: 1816, John Pickering, A vocabulary; or: “Hence It became manifest to the publishers of Webster,…”
first attested First attested in 1548 (as stated in the etymology)
The story
First attested in 1548; from Latin prōcrastinātus, perfect passive participle of prōcrastinō (‘defer, put off till tomorrow’) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from prō- (‘in favor of’) + crāstinus (‘of or belonging to tomorrow’) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), from crās (‘tomorrow’).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- ‘head, top’
horn, cheer, hart, cerebral, grail, corny, migraine, crater, cornea, cairn, cornet, cerebellum, carotid, cranium, cerebrum, keratin, rother, 52 more
Today it means
verb To delay taking action; to wait until later.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *krās / procrastinate