Etymology

extortion

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Today it means: The practice of extorting money or other property by the use of force or threats. Full definition →

Middle English extorcion ← Late Latin extortiō ← Latin extorqueō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰ
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éǵʰs
  3. Proto-Italic*eks
  4. Latinex
  5. Latinex-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*terkʷ-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*torkʷ-éye-ti
  8. Proto-Italic*torkʷejō
  9. Proto-Italic*torkʷeō
  10. Latintorqueō
  11. Latinextorqueō
  12. Late Latinextortiō
  13. Middle Englishextorcion
  14. English todayextortion

From Middle English extorcion, from Anglo-Norman extorcion, extorcioun, extorsioun, from Late Latin extortiō, from extorqueō. By surface analysis, extort + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.