Etymology of the English word despair
the English word
despairderived from the Old French word
despoirderived from the French word
despairderived from the Latin word
desperare (despair; have no, give up hope)
using the Late Latin prefix
de-derived from the Latin word
de (away; down)
derived from the Latin word
sperare (hope for; trust; look forward to)
derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*spe-derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*spē-derived from the Latin word
spes (hope, anticipation, expectation; object, embodiment of hope)
Date
The earliest known usage of despair in English dates from the 14th century.
Derivations in English
despaired,
despairingCognates
Italian
disperareUsage
Word found in Modern English
