Etymology

predicate

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Today it means: The part of the sentence (or clause) which states a property that a subject has or is characterized by. Full definition →

Middle English predicat(e) ← Old French predicat ← Medieval Latin praedicātum
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predicate · noun, adjective1

  1. Medieval Latin · derived frompraedicātum“thing said of a subject, predicate”
  2. Old French · derived frompredicat
  3. Middle English · inherited frompredicat(e)
  4. English todaypredicate

From Middle English predicat(e), from Old French predicat (French prédicat), from Medieval Latin praedicātum (“thing said of a subject, predicate”), substantivized from the nominative neuter singular of praedicātus, the perfect passive participle praedicō (“to proclaim”), see -ate (noun-forming suffix); see also Etymology 2 below. The adjective was derived from the noun by metanalysis, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

predicate · verb2

  1. Latin · derived frompraedicātus
  2. English todaypredicate

From Latin praedicātus, perfect passive participle of praedicō (“to publish, declare, proclaim”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), further from prae- (“before”) + dicō (“to proclaim, dedicate”), related to dīcō (“to say, tell”). Doublet of preach.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.