Etymology

overprotect

O1V4E1R1P3R1O1T1E1C3T1

Today it means: To protect to an excessive degree; to coddle Full definition →

English protect ← Middle English over- ← Old English ofer-
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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. Englishprotect
  8. English todayoverprotect

From over- + protect.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.