Etymograph

English

trait

Trait comes from Middle French trait ‘line, feature’, from Latin tractus ‘drawing, pulling’, and ultimately from trahō ‘to drag, pull’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahō‘to drag, pull’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtractus‘drawing, pulling’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600trait‘line, feature’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1856trait

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahō‘to drag, pull’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtractus‘drawing, pulling’
  3. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600trait‘line, feature’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1856trait

Earliest quotation: 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson, English Traits: “The English, of all classes, value themselves on this…”

Linked words

through Latin trahō ‘to drag, pull’

contract, treat, attractive, attraction, abstract, extract, distraction, distract, tram, subtraction, retract, tractable, 32 more

through Latin tractus ‘drawing, pulling’

traction, tractor, tract, trattoria, 1 more

Today it means

noun An identifying characteristic, habit or trend.

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

Etymograph / Latin trahō / trait

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