Etymology

basic

ba·sic
B3A1S1I1C3

Today it means: Necessary, essential for life or some process. Full definition →

English base ← Middle English base ← Old French base
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basic · adjective, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷem-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*gʷémtis
  3. Proto-Hellenic*gʷə́tis
  4. Ancient Greekβᾰ́σῐς (bắsĭs)
  5. Latinbasis
  6. Old Frenchbase
  7. Middle Englishbase
  8. Englishbase
  9. English todaybasic

From base + -ic.

BASIC · proper noun2

Acronym for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, but designed to spell out basic (i.e. simplistic). First use appears c. 1964 in the BASIC Instruction Manual.

Basic · proper noun3

An initialism of Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.