Etymology

adequate

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Today it means: Equal to or fulfilling some requirement. Full definition →

Latin adaequātu ← Old Latin aiquos ← Proto-Italic *aikʷos?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  2. Proto-Italic*ad
  3. Proto-Italic*ad-
  4. Latinad-
  5. Proto-Italic*aikʷos?
  6. Old Latinaiquos
  7. Latinaequus
  8. Latinaequō
  9. Latinadaequō
  10. Latinadaequātu
  11. English todayadequate

Learned borrowing from Latin adaequātus, perfect passive participle of adaequō (“to make equal to”) (see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from ad (“to, towards, at”) + aequō (“to make equal, equalize”), from aequus (“equal”). Cognate with French adéquat. By surface analysis, ad- + equate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.