risqué

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*sek-“to cut; to cut off, sever”
2. Latin · derived fromresecō“to cut loose or off, etc.”
3. Vulgar Latin · derived from*resecum
4. Old Italian · derived fromrisco“risk”
5. French · borrowed fromrisqué“risky”
6. English todayrisqué

Borrowed from French risqué (“risky”), an adjective use of the past participle of risquer (“to put at risk; to risk”), from risque (“risk”, noun) + -er (suffix forming infinitives of first-conjugation verbs). Risque is derived from Old Italian risco (“risk”) (modern Italian rischio), possibly a deverbal from resecare or from Vulgar Latin *resecum, both from Latin resecō (“to cut loose or off, etc.”), from re- (intensifying prefix) + secō (“to cut; to cut off”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut; to cut off, sever”)).

Words from the same roots