Etymology

invest

I1N1V4E1S1T1

Today it means: To spend money, time, or energy on something, especially for some benefit or purpose; used with in. Full definition →

Middle French investir ← Medieval Latin investire ← Latin investio
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

invest · verb1

  1. Italian · derived frominvestire
  2. Latin · derived frominvestio“to clothe, cover”
  3. Medieval Latin · borrowed frominvestire
  4. Middle French · borrowed frominvestir
  5. English todayinvest

Borrowed from Middle French investir or Medieval Latin investire, from Latin investio (“to clothe, cover”), from in- (“in, on”) + vestio (“to clothe, dress”), from vestis (“clothing”); see vest. The sense “to spend money etc.” probably via Italian investire, of the same root.

invest · noun2

Clipping of investigate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.