Etymology

confiscate

con·fis·cate
C3O1N1F4I1S1C3A1T1E1

Today it means: To use one's authority to lay claim to and separate a possession from its holder. Full definition →

Latin cōnfiscātus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcōnfiscō“to seize for the public treasury (<i class="Latn mention" lang="la">fiscus</i>)”
  2. Latin · borrowed fromcōnfiscātus
  3. English todayconfiscate

Borrowed from Latin cōnfiscātus, the perfect passive participle of Latin cōnfiscō (“to seize for the public treasury (fiscus)”), see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.