Etymology

self-perpetuating

Today it means: Causing itself to continue to exist. Full definition →

English perpetuating ← Middle English self- ← Old English self-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swé?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
  3. Proto-Germanic*selbaz
  4. Old Englishself
  5. Old Englishself-
  6. Middle Englishself-
  7. Englishself-
  8. Englishperpetuating
  9. English todayself-perpetuating

From self- + perpetuating.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.