Etymology

celebrate

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Today it means: To extol or honour in a solemn manner. Full definition →

Middle English celebraten
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The story

  1. Middle English · inherited fromcelebraten
  2. English todaycelebrate

From Middle English celebraten, from celebrat(e) (“celebrated”, also used as the past participle of celebraten) + -en, borrowed from Latin celebrātus, perfect passive participle of celebrō (“frequent, go to in great numbers, celebrate, honor, praise”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from celeber (“frequented, populous”). Displaced native Old English fæġnian and frēolsian.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.