Etymology

disallow

D2I1S1A1L1L1O1W4

Today it means: To refuse to allow. Full definition →

Middle English disallowen ← Anglo-Norman desalouer ← Old French desalöer
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Old French · derived fromdesalöer
  2. Anglo-Norman · derived fromdesalouer
  3. Middle English · inherited fromdisallowen
  4. English todaydisallow

From Middle English disallowen, desallowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman desalouer, Old French desalöer. By surface analysis, dis- + allow.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.