Etymology

apiece

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Today it means: Following a noun or noun phrase: by, for, or to each one; each by itself. Full definition →

Middle English a pece ← Anglo-Norman pece ← Middle French piece
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The story

  1. Proto-Celtic · derived from*kʷezdis“piece, portion; quota”
  2. Gaulish · derived from*pettyā
  3. Late Latin · derived from*pettia
  4. Old French · derived frompece
  5. Middle French · derived frompiece
  6. Anglo-Norman · derived frompece
  7. Middle English · inherited froma pece
  8. English todayapiece

Univerbation of a + piece (noun), from Late Middle English a pece. Pece is derived from Anglo-Norman pece, peece, peice, Middle French piece, and Old French pece, pice, piece (“part of a whole”) (modern French pièce); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Late Latin *pettia, *pettium (compare pecia, pecium, petia, petium (“broken piece, fragment; piece of land”)), or from their possible etymon Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion; quota”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.