English
uniform
Uniform comes from Latin uniformis ‘having only one shape or form, uniform’, and goes back to fōrma.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfōrma
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEuniformis‘having only one shape or form, uniform’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600uniforme
- Englishearliest quotation 1593uniform
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfōrma
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEuniformis‘having only one shape or form, uniform’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600uniforme
- Englishearliest quotation 1593uniform
Earliest quotation: 1593, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity: “The only doubt is, about the manner of their…”
Linked words
through Ancient Greek μορφή ‘shape, form’
through Etruscan *morma
transformation, informatics, deformable, 18 more
through Latin fōrma
information, formation, reform, formula, format, formal, inform, forma, fromage, deform, 25 more
Today it means
adj Unvarying; all the same.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fōrma / uniform