application (French)

Where does "application" come from?

The French noun 'application' is inherited through Middle French 'application'[1][2] and Old French 'aplicacion'[1][2][4] from the Latin accusative singular form 'applicātiōnem'[2][4]. The Latin root 'applicātiō' was formed by combining the verb 'applicō'[3], which derives from the prefix 'ad-' combined with 'plicō'[5] meaning 'to fold'[5] or 'to arrive'[5]. The ultimate origin traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*pleḱ-' meaning 'to plait, to weave', itself an extension of '*pel-' meaning 'to fold' or 'to wrap'[6][7].

Open questions

The verb plico is considered by de Vaan to likely be a back-formation from compound verbs formed from the stem *-plek-ā-. [6]

Full etymology tree

application (French), 'application'
- inherited application (Middle French), 'application (act of applying something)'
  - inherited aplicacion (Old French), 'application (act of applying something)'
    - borrowed applicationem (Latin), 'accusative singular of applicātiō'
      - inherited applicatio (Latin), 'application, inclination'
        derived applico (Latin), 'to apply'
        prefix ad- (Latin), 'to'
        derived plico (Latin), 'to fold, bend or flex; to roll up'
        derived *-plek-ā- (Latin)
        derived *-plek-ā- compound adjectives (Latin)
        derived *pleḱ- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to fold, plait, weave'
        derived *pel- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to cover, to wrap'
        suffix -tio (Latin), '-tion, -ation, -ing; suffixed to verbs to form action nouns denoting a process, action, or result of an action.'

Ancestors

application (Middle French)
aplicacion (Old French)
applicatio (Latin)

Descendants and derived words

application Web (French)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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