Etymology

release

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Today it means: The event of setting (someone or something) free (e.g. hostages, slaves, prisoners, caged animals, hooked or stuck mechanisms). Full definition →

Middle English relesen ← Old French relaisser ← Vulgar Latin *lassicāre
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release · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Italic*wre-
  2. Latinre-
  3. Old Frenchre-
  4. Proto-Indo-European*(s)leg-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*(s)leg-s-ós
  6. Latinlaxus
  7. Latinlaxō
  8. Vulgar Latin*laxicāre
  9. Vulgar Latin*lassicāre
  10. Old Frenchlaschier
  11. Old Frenchrelaschier
  12. Old Frenchrelaisser
  13. Middle Englishrelesen
  14. English todayrelease

From Middle English relesen, relessen, from Old French relaisser (variant of relascher).

release · verb2

  1. Proto-Italic*wre-
  2. Latinre-
  3. Old Frenchre-
  4. Middle Englishre-
  5. Englishre-
  6. Englishlease
  7. English todayrelease

From re- + lease.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.