Etymology

caprice

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Today it means: An impulsive, seemingly unmotivated action, change of mind, or notion. Full definition →

French caprice ← Italian capriccio ← Old Italian caporiccio
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kap-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kap-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*káput
  4. Proto-Italic*kaput
  5. Latincaput
  6. Vulgar Latincapus
  7. Old Italiancapo
  8. Proto-Indo-European*ǵʰḗr
  9. Latinērīcius
  10. Old Italianriccio
  11. Old Italiancaporiccio
  12. Italiancapriccio
  13. Frenchcaprice
  14. English todaycaprice

Borrowed from French caprice, from Italian capriccio, from caporiccio (“fright, sudden start”). Doublet of capriccio.

Words from the same roots

Italiancapriccio all →

capriccioa capriccio

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.