procrastination (English)
Where does "procrastination" come from?
The English noun 'procrastination' arrives via Middle French from the Latin 'prōcrāstinātiō'[1]. This Latin term combines the prefix 'prō', meaning 'forwards', with 'crāstinus', an adjective derived from 'crās', the Latin word for 'tomorrow'[1][5]. By merging these elements, the word literally refers to the act of putting something off until tomorrow[1][2]. The roots of this concept can be traced further back to the Proto-Italic form '*prō' and the potentially related Proto-Indo-European '*ḱerh₂', which relates to 'head' or 'top'[4][6].
Open questions
- The connection between the Latin adverb 'crās' and the Proto-Indo-European form '*ḱerh₂' meaning head or top remains a possibility rather than a confirmed origin. [6]
Full etymology tree
- procrastination (English), 'The act of postponing, delaying or putting off, especially habitually or intentionally.'
- inherited procrastination (Middle French)
- inherited procrastinatio (Latin), 'a putting off until tomorrow; procrastination'
- derived procrastino (Latin), 'to put off until tomorrow; to defer, delay, procrastinate'
- compound pro- (Latin), 'forward direction, forward movement'
- inherited *prō (Proto-Italic), 'for'
- inherited *próh₁ (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *pró (Proto-Indo-European), 'forwards, before'
- inherited *próh₁ (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *prō (Proto-Italic), 'for'
- compound crastinus (Latin), 'tomorrow's'
- derived cras (Latin), 'tomorrow'
- inherited *krās (Proto-Italic), 'tomorrow'
- inherited *ḱerh₂- (Proto-Indo-European), 'head, top'
- inherited *krās (Proto-Italic), 'tomorrow'
- suffix -tinus (Latin), 'Creates adjectives from temporal adverbs.'
- derived cras (Latin), 'tomorrow'
- compound pro- (Latin), 'forward direction, forward movement'
- suffix -tio (Latin), '-tion, -ation, -ing; suffixed to verbs to form action nouns denoting a process, action, or result of an action.'
- derived procrastino (Latin), 'to put off until tomorrow; to defer, delay, procrastinate'
- inherited procrastinatio (Latin), 'a putting off until tomorrow; procrastination'
- inherited procrastination (Middle French)
Descendants and derived words
- bedtime procrastination (English)
- cryocrastination (English)
- overprocrastination (English)
- procrastination is the thief of time (English)
- procrasturbation (English)
Sources
- procrastination (English) - Wiktionary
- procrastinatio (Latin) - Wiktionary
- crastinus (Latin) - Wiktionary
- pro (Latin) - Wiktionary
- procrastino (Latin) - Wiktionary
- cras (Latin) - Wiktionary
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris