Etymology

term

T1E1R1M3

Today it means: That which limits the extent of anything; limit, extremity, bound, boundary, terminus. Full definition →

First used 17th c.Middle English terme ← Old French terme ← Latin terminus
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term · noun, verb, adjective1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*terh₂-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ter-?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*térmn̥
  4. Proto-Italic*termn̥
  5. Proto-Italic*term(e)nos
  6. Latinterminus
  7. Old Frenchterme
  8. Middle Englishterme
  9. English todayterm

From Middle English terme, borrowed from Old French terme, from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end; in Medieval Latin, also a time, period, word, covenant, etc.”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *térmn̥ (“stump, end, boundary”). Doublet of terminus and termon. Old English had termen, from the same source.

term · noun2

Clipping of terminal.

term · verb, noun3

Short for terminate, termination, terminated employee, etc.

Words from the same roots

Old Frenchterme all →

Easter term

Latinterminus all →

terminalterminusEaster termterminalianterminus ad quemterminus ante quemtermon

Proto-Indo-European*térmn̥ all →

tramEaster termterminalian

First known use, by meaning

  • from 17th c. A statue of the upper body, sometimes without the arms, ending in a pillar or pedestal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.