Etymology

impersonate

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Today it means: To pretend to be (a different person); to assume the identity of, especially when there is an intent to deceive. Full definition →

English person ← Middle English persoun ← Anglo-Norman persoune
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Italic*en
  3. Proto-Italic*en-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Middle Englishin-
  6. Englishim-
  7. Latinpersōna
  8. Anglo-Normanpersoune
  9. Middle Englishpersoun
  10. Englishperson
  11. English todayimpersonate

From im- + person + -ate (verb-forming suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.