Etymology

depend

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Today it means: To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition Full definition →

Middle English dependen ← Old French dependre ← Latin dependeō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*de
  2. Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
  3. Proto-Italic*dē
  4. Latindē
  5. Latindē-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*(s)pend-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*(s)pn̥d-éh₁ye-ti
  8. Proto-Italic*pendējō
  9. Proto-Italic*pendēō
  10. Latinpendeō
  11. Latindependeō
  12. Old Frenchdependre
  13. Middle Englishdependen
  14. English todaydepend

Inherited from Middle English dependen, from Old French dependre, from Latin dependeō, from dē- + pendeō (“to be suspended, hang”). In this sense, displaced native Old English hangian (“to hang or depend”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.