English
utilise
Utilise comes from French utiliser ‘to use, to utilize’, and goes back to Italian utile ‘useful’.
- Italianc. 1300–presentutile‘useful’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentutilizzare‘to use, make use of, utilize’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentutiliser‘to use, to utilize’
- Englishearliest quotation 1959utilise
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Italianc. 1300–presentutile‘useful’
- Italian, derivedc. 1300–presentutilizzare‘to use, make use of, utilize’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentutiliser‘to use, to utilize’
- Englishearliest quotation 1959utilise
Earliest quotation: 1959, The 2,500 h.p. electric locomotives for the Kent Coast elect: “The bodywork employs, where possible, the same constructional methods…”
The story
Attested c. 1810.
Linked words
through Latin ūtī ‘use’
Today it means
verb To make use of; to use.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Italian utile / utilise