Etymology

substitute

sub·sti·tute
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Today it means: To use in place of something else, with the same function. Full definition →

Middle English substituten ← Latin substitutus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromsubstitutus
  2. Middle English · inherited fromsubstituten
  3. English todaysubstitute

From Middle English substituten, from Latin substitutus, past participle of substituō, from sub- (“under; beneath”) + statuō (“to put up; establish”). Displaced native Old English spala (“a substitute”) and spelian (“to substitute”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.