Etymology

espouse

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Today it means: To marry. Full definition →

Middle English espousen ← Old French espouser ← Latin spōnsāre
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*spend-
  2. Latin · derived fromspōnsāre
  3. Old French · derived fromespouser
  4. Middle English · inherited fromespousen
  5. English todayespouse

From Middle English espousen, borrowed from Old French espouser, from Latin spōnsāre (frequentative of spondeō), from Proto-Indo-European *spend-.

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*spend- all →

spouse

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.