Etymology

parsimony

par·si·mony
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Today it means: With a negative connotation: great reluctance to spend money or other resources; miserliness, stinginess; (countable) an instance of this. Full definition →

Middle English parcimonie ← Latin parcimōnia ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₂epó“away; off”
  2. Latin · derived fromparcimōnia
  3. Middle English · inherited fromparcimonie
  4. English todayparsimony

From Late Middle English parcimonie, parcimony (“economy, frugality, thrift”), borrowed from Latin parcimōnia, parsimōnia (“frugality, thrift, parsimony; moderation, restraint; stinginess”), from pars- (the past participial stem of parcō (“to economize, save up; etc.”)) + -mōnia (suffix forming abstract nouns). The further etymology of parcō is uncertain; it is possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away; off”) + *h₂erk- (“to hold; to guard, protect; to lock”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó all →

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Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.