Etymology

accelerate

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Today it means: To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of. Full definition →

English accelerationbf. ← Latin accelerātiō ← Proto-Indo-European *kel-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  2. Proto-Italic*ad
  3. Proto-Italic*ad-
  4. Latinad-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*kel-
  6. Latinceler
  7. Latincelerō
  8. Latinaccelerō
  9. Latinaccelerātu
  10. Latinaccelerō
  11. Latinaccelerātiō
  12. Englishaccelerationbf.
  13. English todayaccelerate

First attested in the 1520s. Either from Latin accelerātus, perfect passive participle of accelerō (“to accelerate, hasten”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix)), formed from ad + celerō (“to hasten”), which is from celer (“quick”) (see celerity), or back-formation from acceleration.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.