Etymology

reduce

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Today it means: To bring down the size, quantity, quality, value or intensity of something; to diminish, to lower. Full definition →

Middle English reducen ← Old French reduire
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The story

  1. Old Frenchreduire
  2. Middle Englishreducen
  3. English todayreduce

From Middle English reducen, from Old French reduire, from Latin redūcō (“reduce”); from re- (“back”) + dūcō (“lead”). See duke, and compare with redoubt.

Words from the same roots

Latinredūcō all →

redoubt

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.