Etymology

consume

C3O1N1S1U1M3E1

Today it means: To use up. Full definition →

Middle English consumen ← Old French consumer ← Latin cōnsūmō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Latincon-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  7. Proto-Italic*supo
  8. Latinsub
  9. Latinsub-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*h₁em-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*h₁émeti
  12. Proto-Italic*emō
  13. Latinemō
  14. Latinsūmō
  15. Latincōnsūmō
  16. Old Frenchconsumer
  17. Middle Englishconsumen
  18. English todayconsume

From Middle English consumen, from Old French consumer, from Latin cōnsūmere, cōnsūmō, from con- (“with, together”) + sūmō (“take; consume”), from sub- + emō (“to buy, take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to take, distribute”), possibly related to the root *nem- (“to take or give one's due”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*h₁em- all →

presumptivesumptuary

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.