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Etymology and origin of the English word -ate

Pronunciation

  • /eɪt/, /ət/[1]

-ate1 adjectives and verbs

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1400
Borrowed from
Latin -atus via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin -ātus

Etymology

The suffix of adjectives and verbs is inherited from Middle English -at, with verbs in -aten,[2][1] borrowed from Latin -ātus, feminine -āta, neuter -ātum,[3][4][2][5] the past participle ending of first-conjugation verbs in Latin,[3][4][2][6] made up of the thematic vowel -ā- and -tus.[2][4][7] Merriam-Webster connects -tus with -ed.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

English took Latin participles over by dropping the ending, a habit modelled on French, and this began about 1400 with forms in -at, later -ate, such as desolat.[3][6] Wiktionary and Barnhart agree that the final -e came about the 15th century, showing the long vowel.[1][8]

Semantic evolution

Many of these participial adjectives soon gave rise to verbs of the same form, for which they served for a time as past participles ("the land was desolate by war"); when regular participles in -ed arrived, the old ones either died out or remained as adjectives, as in separate and moderate.[3] Old English had made verbs from adjectives, but with the loss of inflections a verb and its adjective could look alike (dry, warm), and Etymonline and the OED see this as the model.[6][3] In the 16th century this became the regular way to English a Latin verb: take the participial stem as the present.[3][6] English also followed the Latin pattern of adjectives from nouns, as in caudātus (“tailed”), with new words such as lunulate and roseate where Latin had no such formation.[3][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1400 – participial adjectives in -at, soon -ate.[3][6]
  • 16th century – verbs of the same form, and the regular way of adapting Latin verbs.[3][6]

Meanings

Adjective suffix

  1. Forming adjectives meaning in a stated state, or having or resembling something: passionate, stellate.[9][2][8]

Verb suffix

  1. Forming verbs meaning to cause to be, treat with or act in a stated way: activate, aerate, hyphenate.[9][2][8]

Word family

-ate2 nouns of office

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Old French -at via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Latin -ātus

Etymology

The suffix of nouns of office is inherited from Middle English -at,[2] borrowed from Old French -at,[3][4][2] from Latin -ātus, -ātūs, of the fourth declension,[3][4][8][1] and is also represented in French -at, Spanish -ado and Italian -ato.[4] Barnhart keeps it apart from the adjective and verb suffix.[8] Hoad takes it from the stems of verbs in Latin, later added directly to nouns.[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin used it to name an action or state (cōnsulātus, a consulship), a collective (senātus, a senate) or a concrete thing (magistrātus, a magistrate).[4] In popular French words the ending wore down to -é, and later borrowings restored -at.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Early English borrowings had -at, as senat, and they took a final -e from about 1400.[8][6] The suffix remains usable for offices and ranks, as in professorate, and for territories under an official, as in emirate.[2][3] Nouns in English ending in -ate can also be participles used as nouns, naming a person or thing acted on, such as legate, prelate, mandate and delegate.[3][4][2]

Timeline

  • 1275 – senate.[3]
  • 1387 – consulate.[3]
  • 1675 – electorate.[3]

Meanings

Suffix

  1. Forming nouns for an office, rank or function, or the people who hold it: directorate, episcopate.[9][2][8]
  2. Forming nouns for a state, jurisdiction or territory: sultanate.[2]
  3. Forming nouns for a person or thing acted on: advocate, mandate.[2][3]

Word family

-ate3 in chemistry: salt

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1788 acetate, nitrate
Borrowed from
Latin -atum
Ultimate origin
Latin -ātus

Etymology

The suffix for salts is borrowed from New Latin -ātum, from -ātus as a noun.[2][6][7] Etymonline, following W. E. Flood, explains that the product of acetic acid on lead was described in the 18th century as plumbum acetātum, acetated lead, and that acetātum was then taken as a noun.[6][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It named a salt formed by the action of an acid on a base, as in nitrate, acetate and sulfate.[3][8]

Semantic evolution

It is the regular ending for salts and esters of acids named in -ic, and it is matched by -ite for acids in -ous.[6][2][3]

Timeline

  • 18th century – plumbum acetatum, acetated lead.[6]
  • 1788 – acetate, nitrate.[3]

Meanings

Suffix

  1. (chemistry) Forming names of salts or esters of an acid: carbonate, stearate.[9][2][3]
  2. Forming nouns for the product of a process: condensate.[9][2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“-ate.” Etymologically, 6 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/-ate. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

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