Etymology

substance

sub·stance
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Today it means: Physical matter; material. Full definition →

Middle English substance ← Old French substance ← Latin substantia
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromsubstantia“substance, essence”
  2. Old French · derived fromsubstance
  3. Middle English · inherited fromsubstance
  4. English todaysubstance

Inherited from Middle English substance, from Old French substance, from Latin substantia (“substance, essence”), from substāns, present active participle of substō (“exist”, literally “stand under”), from sub + stō (“stand”). Displaced native Old English andweorc.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.