Etymology

influence

in·flu·ence
I1N1F4L1U1E1N1C3E1

Today it means: The power to affect, control or manipulate something or someone; the ability to change the development of fluctuating things such as conduct, thoughts or decisions. Full definition →

Middle English influence ← Old French influence ← Medieval Latin īnfluentia
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
  2. Proto-Italic*en
  3. Proto-Italic*en-
  4. Latinin-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*bʰel-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰlewH-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*bʰluH-yé-ti?
  8. Latinfluō
  9. Latinīnfluō
  10. Latinīnfluēns
  11. Medieval Latinīnfluentia
  12. Old Frenchinfluence
  13. Middle Englishinfluence
  14. English todayinfluence

Inherited from Middle English influence, from Old French influence, a learned borrowing from Medieval Latin īnfluentia, from Latin īnfluēns + -ia. Doublet of influenza.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.