mourir (French)
Where does "mourir" come from?
The French verb 'mourir' traces its roots back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*mer-', meaning 'to die.' This ancient concept evolved into the Latin deponent verb 'morīrī,' which eventually passed through Old and Middle French before settling into its modern form. It remains a deep linguistic link to other words for death and mortality across many Indo-European languages.
Full etymology tree
- mourir (French), 'to die; to be dying'
- inherited mourir (Middle French), 'to die; to be dying'
- inherited morir (Old French), 'to die'
- inherited moriri (Latin), 'present active infinitive of morior'
- derived morior (Latin), 'to die, be slain, fall (in battle), perish'
- inherited *morjōr (Proto-Italic), 'to die'
- inherited *mr̥yétor (Proto-Indo-European), 'to die'
- compound *mer- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to die'
- compound *-yéti (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates intransitive, often deponent, imperfective verbs from roots.'
- inherited *mr̥yétor (Proto-Indo-European), 'to die'
- inherited *morjōr (Proto-Italic), 'to die'
- derived morior (Latin), 'to die, be slain, fall (in battle), perish'
- inherited moriri (Latin), 'present active infinitive of morior'
- inherited morir (Old French), 'to die'
- inherited mourir (Middle French), 'to die; to be dying'
Ancestors
- mourir (Middle French)
- morir (Old French)
- morior (Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- à mourir de rire (French)
- mourir de faim (French)
- mourir de sa belle mort (French)
- mourir en odeur de sainteté (French)
- mouri (Haitian Creole)
- mouri (Louisiana Creole)
Updated May 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris