Wordwyrt

promise

/pˈɹɒməs/PRO-muhs
/pˈɹɑməs/PRAH-muhs

Meaningsent forward

Common meaning: a pledge to do something

‘forward, for’ + ‘to send, release’ → promise

Journey through time

  • pro — Latin pro- “forward, for” (path traced)
  • mise — Latin mittō, mīsī, missum “to send, release” (path traced)

Parts join in Latin as promissa.

  1. Latinpro- + mittere‘forward, for + to send, release’source
  2. Latinpromissa‘a thing promised’source
  3. Frenchpromessesource
  4. Englishmeaning shiftsa thing promised → a pledge to do somethingpromise‘a pledge to do something’ · today

Sources & notes

Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.

Pronunciation

  • UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
  • No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
  • US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
  • No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.

Origin: Built on Latin promissa, which Skeat analyses as pro- ‘forward, for’ + mittere ‘to send, release’.

Roots

Related words

decommissiondismissdismissalemitsubcommitteesubmissionsurmise

Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app