accurate (English)
Where does "accurate" come from?
The word 'accurate' traveled into English in the 17th century, derived from the Latin 'accūrātus,' which originally meant 'done with care.' This Latin root is built from 'ad-' (to) and 'cūra' (care), making it a distant linguistic cousin to our modern word 'cure.' Over time, the meaning evolved from a general sense of being careful or attentive to the specific precision we associate with hitting a target today.
Full etymology tree
- accurate (English), 'Telling the truth or giving a true result; exact; not defective or faulty.'
- learned borrowing accuratus (Latin), 'taken care of, prepared with care, having been taken care of'
- affix ad- (Latin), 'to'
- inherited *ad- (Proto-Italic), 'ad-'
- derived accuro (Latin), 'to take care of, do something with care, attend or give attention to'
- affix ad- (Latin), 'to'
- inherited *ad- (Proto-Italic), 'ad-'
- derived curo (Latin), 'to refresh (when occurring with corpus)'
- derived cura (Latin), 'care, concern, thought'
- inherited *kʷoizā (Proto-Italic), 'care'
- inherited *kʷeys- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to see; to heed'
- derived *kʷey- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to pay'
- inherited *kʷeys- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to see; to heed'
- inherited *kʷoizā (Proto-Italic), 'care'
- derived cura (Latin), 'care, concern, thought'
- affix ad- (Latin), 'to'
- affix ad- (Latin), 'to'
- learned borrowing accuratus (Latin), 'taken care of, prepared with care, having been taken care of'
Direct ancestors
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris