Etymology

administer

A1D2M3I1N1I1S1T1E1R1

Today it means: To apportion out, distribute. Full definition →

Middle English administren ← Old French aminister ← Latin administrare
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromadministrare“to manage, execute”
  2. Old French · derived fromaminister
  3. Middle English · inherited fromadministren
  4. English todayadminister

From Middle English administren, from Old French aminister, from Latin administrare (“to manage, execute”), from ad (“to”) + ministrare (“to attend, serve”), from minister (“servant”); see minister.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.