Etymology of the English word surprise
the English word
surprisederived from the Old French word
surprisederived from the Old French word
surprendrederived from the French word
prendrederived from the Latin word
prehendere (catch up with; reach shore, harbor; catch, capture; take hold of)
derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*ghend-derived from the Old French word
sur-using the Medieval Latin prefix
super-derived from the Classical Latin word
super (above)
derived from the Proto-Indo-European root
*uperDate
The earliest known usage of surprise in English dates from the 15th century.
Derivations in English
surprisal,
surprising,
surprisedCognates
French
surprise, Italian
sorpresa, Spanish
sorpresaUsage
Word found in Modern English
