procreate (English)

Where does "procreate" come from?

The English verb "procreate" traces back to the Latin term prōcreātus, the past participle of prōcreō, which means "to beget." This word entered Middle English in the 15th century, eventually evolving into the modern verb we use today. Linguistically, it is composed of the prefix "pro-" combined with the verb "create."

Full etymology tree

• procreate (English), 'To beget or conceive (offsprings).'
  • compound prō- (Latin), 'forward direction, forward movement'
  • compound create (English), 'To bring into existence; (sometimes in particular:)'
    • derived creātus (Latin), 'created, having been created, made, having been made, produced, having been produced'
      • derived creō (Latin), 'to create, to give existence to, to form, to make, to produce, to originate out of other materials or (post-Classical) out of nihility (transitively)'
    • suffix -ātus (Latin), '-ed. Used to form adjectives from nouns indicating the possession of a thing or feature.'

Direct ancestors

• per- (Proto-Indo-European)
• procreatus (Latin)
• pro- (English)
• create (English)

Updated June 2026

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