Passion (English)

Where does "Passion" come from?

The English proper name 'Passion' comes directly from Latin 'Passiō'[1]. This was a capitalized, proper-noun use of the noun 'passiō', which originally meant 'suffering'[1]. The Latin noun was built from the verb 'patior' ('to suffer') combined with the suffix '-tiō'[2]. In Christian tradition, this specific term came to denote the ultimate sufferings endured by Jesus Christ from the Last Supper through the Crucifixion[1].

Open questions

• The ultimate Proto-Indo-European root of the Latin verb 'patior' is uncertain, with potential reconstructions including '*peh₁-' and '*pet-'. [2]

Full etymology tree

• Passion (English), 'The sufferings of Jesus Christ from the night of the Last Supper to the Crucifixion.'
  • borrowed Passiō (Latin)
    • derived passio (Latin), 'suffering; enduring'
      • affix patior (Latin), 'to suffer, endure, tolerate'
      • suffix -tio (Latin), '-tion, -ation, -ing; suffixed to verbs to form action nouns denoting a process, action, or result of an action.'

Descendants and derived words

• Passionflower (English)
• Passiontide (English)

Sources

1. Passion (English) - Wiktionary
2. passio (Latin) - Wiktionary

Updated October 2026

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