English
reflect
Reflect probably comes from Old French reflecter ‘to bend back’, from Latin reflectō, from re- + flectō ‘to bend’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflectō‘to bend’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreflectō‘to bend back’uncertain
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400reflecter‘to bend back’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1939reflect
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflectō‘to bend’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEreflectō‘to bend back’uncertain
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400reflecter‘to bend back’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1939reflect
Earliest quotation: 1939, D. S. Barrie, The Railways of South Wales: “Standing on the mountain above Caerphilly, one may reflect…”
Linked words
through Latin flectō ‘to bend, to curve’
flexible, flexibility, flex, deflection, inflection, deflect, 11 more
Today it means
verb To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin flectō / reflect