sincere

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*sem-“together”
2. Latin · derived fromsincerus“genuine”
3. Middle French · borrowed fromsincere
4. English todaysincere

From Middle French sincere, from Latin sincerus (“genuine”), from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“together”) (whence English sam) + *ḱer- (“grow”) (whence Latin Ceres, the goddess of harvest, etymon of cereal). Not from sine (“without”) + cera (“wax”), which is a folk etymology; see Wikipedia page.

Words from the same roots