Etymology

self-serve

Today it means: Describing a facility in which the customer performs the work rather than being waited on. Full definition →

English serve ← Middle English serven ← Old French servir
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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. Proto-Indo-European*ser-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*serwos
  10. Proto-Indo-European*serweyéti
  11. Proto-Italic*serwijeti
  12. Proto-Italic*serwijit
  13. Proto-Italic*serwiō
  14. Latinserviō
  15. Old Frenchservir
  16. Middle Englishserven
  17. Englishserve
  18. English todayself-serve

From self- + serve.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.