Etymology

constitution

con·sti·tu·tion
C3O1N1S1T1I1T1U1T1I1O1N1

Today it means: The act, or process of setting something up, or establishing something; the composition or structure of such a thing; its makeup. Full definition →

Middle English constitucioun ← Old French constitucion ← Latin cōnstitūtiō
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromcōnstitūtiō
  2. Old French · derived fromconstitucion
  3. Middle English · inherited fromconstitucioun
  4. English todayconstitution

PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English constitucioun, constitucion (“edict, law, ordinance, regulation, rule, statute; body of laws or rules, or customs; body of fundamental principles; principle or rule (of science); creation”) from Old French constitucion (modern French constitution), a learned borrowing from Latin cōnstitūtiō, cōnstitūtiōnem (“character, constitution, disposition, nature; definition; point in dispute; order, regulation; arrangement, system”), from cōnstituō (“to establish, set up; to confirm; to decide, resolve”). Equivalent to constitute + -ion.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishconstitucioun all →

Old Frenchconstitucion all →

Latincōnstitūtiō all →

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.