Etymology

achievement

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Today it means: The act of achieving or performing; a successful performance; accomplishment. Full definition →

Middle French achevement ← Old French achevement ← Vulgar Latin *accapāre
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  2. Proto-Italic*ad
  3. Latinad
  4. Proto-Indo-European*kap-?
  5. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*káput
  7. Proto-Italic*kaput
  8. Latincaput
  9. Latincapus
  10. Vulgar Latin*accapāre
  11. Old Frenchachever
  12. Old Frenchachevement
  13. Middle Frenchachevement
  14. English todayachievement

From Middle French achevement (compare Modern French achèvement), from Old French achevement, from the verb achever, achiever (“to finish”); equivalent to achieve + -ment. The heraldic sense may be influenced by hatchment.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.