Etymology

banish

B3A1N1I1S1H4

Today it means: To send (someone) away and forbid them from returning. Full definition →

Middle English banishen ← Old French baniss- ← Old English bannan
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*bannaną“curse, forbid”
  2. Old English · inherited frombannan
  3. Old French · derived frombaniss-
  4. Middle English · inherited frombanishen
  5. English todaybanish

From Middle English banishen, from Old French baniss-, extended stem of banir (“to proclaim, ban, banish”), of Germanic origin and Old English bannan, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“curse, forbid”). Compare French bannir. Doublet of ban.

Words from the same roots

Old Englishbannan all →

ban

Proto-Germanic*bannaną all →

banabandonbanal

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.