Etymology

reaction

R1E1A1C3T1I1O1N1

Today it means: An action or statement in response to a stimulus or other event. Full definition →

Middle English reaccion ← Old French reaction ← Latin reāctiō
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · derived fromreāctiō
  2. Old French · derived fromreaction
  3. Middle English · inherited fromreaccion
  4. English todayreaction

Inherited from Middle English reaccion, from Old French reaction, from Latin reāctiō, from the verb reagō, from re- (“again”) + agō (“to act”); more at re-, action; equivalent to react + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.