sincere (English)

Where does "sincere" come from?

The word sincere traces back to the Proto-Indo-European roots for "together" and "grow," suggesting a sense of being whole or fully grown. It evolved into the Latin word sincerus, meaning pure or genuine, before being borrowed into English through Middle French. Despite a popular folk etymology, the word is not actually derived from the Latin phrase for "without wax."

Full etymology tree

• sincere (English), 'Genuine; meaning what one says or does; heartfelt.'
  • borrowed from sincere (Middle French), 'sincere (genuinely meaning what one says or does)'
    • borrowed from sincerus (Latin), 'clean, pure, sound'
      • inherited from *senkairos (Proto-Italic)
        • compound of *sem- (Proto-Indo-European), 'together, one'
        • compound of *ḱer- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to grow, to make grow, to nourish'

Direct ancestors

• sem- (Proto-Indo-European)
• sincere (Middle French)
• sincerus (Latin)
• sem- (Proto-Indo-European)

Updated April 2026

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris