Etymology

impress

im·press
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Today it means: To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably; to inspire admiration from (someone). Full definition →

Middle English impressen ← Latin impressus ← Proto-Italic *pres-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Italic*en
  3. Proto-Italic*en-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*per-?
  6. Proto-Indo-European*pres-
  7. Proto-Italic*pres-
  8. Latinpremō
  9. Latinimprimō
  10. Latinimpressus
  11. Middle Englishimpressen
  12. English todayimpress

From Middle English impressen, from Latin impressus, perfect passive participle of imprimere (“to press into or upon, stick, stamp, or dig into”), from in (“in, upon”) + premere (“to press”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.