Etymology

overstay

O1V4E1R1S1T1A1Y4

Today it means: To remain present after the agreed or appropriate departure time. Full definition →

English stay ← Middle English over- ← Old English ofer-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

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. Englishstay
  8. English todayoverstay

From over- + stay.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.