Etymology

saturate

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Today it means: To cause to become completely permeated with, or soaked (especially with a liquid). Full definition →

Middle English saturat(e) ← Latin saturātus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromsaturātus
  2. Middle English · inherited fromsaturat(e)“satiated, satisfied”
  3. English todaysaturate

The adjective is first attested in the second part of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English, the verb in 1538, the noun in 1921; inherited from Middle English saturat(e) (“satiated, satisfied”), borrowed from Latin saturātus, perfect passive participle of saturō (“to fill, satisfy, quench”) (see -ate (etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from satur (“full”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.