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delegate

DEL-uh-gayt · noun, verb, adjective

LatinOld FrenchMiddle EnglishEnglish

Origin

Delegate comes from Middle English delegat, borrowed via Old French delegat from Latin dēlēgātus, the past participle of dēlēgō, meaning 'to send, assign, delegate.' It shares this root with legate.

Journey

The noun and adjective both trace back to that same Latin past participle — in fact, delegate was used as a past participle and adjective in English up through Early Modern English, before settling into its modern noun and verb roles.

Related words

It's related to legate, another word rooted in the same Latin sending-and-assigning idea.

More words

From Old French

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