Etymology

overact

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Today it means: To act in an exaggerated manner. Full definition →

English act ← Middle English acte ← Old French act
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Englishover-
  7. Latinagō
  8. Latināctus
  9. Latinācta
  10. Old Frenchact
  11. Middle Englishacte
  12. Englishact
  13. English todayoveract

From over- + act.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.