entry
derive
/dɪˈɹaɪv/obtain, reason out, or trace origins
From Latin de (away from) + Latin riv (stream).
from PIE root *rei- "to run, flow").
from Latin derivare "to lead or draw off (a stream of water)
from Old French deriver "to flow, pour out; derive, originate,"
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English deriven
from Old French deriver "to flow, pour out; derive, originate,"
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from PIE root *rei- "to run, flow").
from Latin derivare "to lead or draw off (a stream of water)
from Old French deriver "to flow, pour out; derive, originate,"
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English deriven
from Old French deriver "to flow, pour out; derive, originate,"
+1 more sourceThis word begins with a river, which is already a nice trick: Latin speakers could talk about diverting water with dē- and rīvus, literally pulling a stream away from its channel. By the late 1300s, English had borrowed the French form deriver, and the image started escaping the ditch and running through the mind—by about 1500 you could derive a conclusion, not just a canal. That same watery ancestry explains why words like river and rivulet feel like distant cousins, while derive is also strangely at home beside derivative, a word that still smells faintly of something taken off from a source. And if you want a clean false friend to avoid, arrive is not a relative at all; it comes from a very different path, no stream required. So when you derive an idea, you are, etymologically speaking, not inventing a fountain—you are tracing where the water slipped off to in the first place.
The Story
This word begins with a river, which is already a nice trick: Latin speakers could talk about diverting water with dē- and rīvus, literally pulling a stream away from its channel. By the late 1300s, English had borrowed the French form deriver, and the image started escaping the ditch and running through the mind—by about 1500 you could derive a conclusion, not just a canal. That same watery ancestry explains why words like river and rivulet feel like distant cousins, while derive is also strangely at home beside derivative, a word that still smells faintly of something taken off from a source. And if you want a clean false friend to avoid, arrive is not a relative at all; it comes from a very different path, no stream required. So when you derive an idea, you are, etymologically speaking, not inventing a fountain—you are tracing where the water slipped off to in the first place.
Modern Usage
to take a calculus derivative; jokingly, to suffer through or be tortured by calculus
Popularized by: math humor and Urban Dictionary-style internet wordplay
Notable References
- Urban Dictionary entry: 'Don't drink and derive'
Kin & Kindred
From 'de'·away from, off, down from
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'riv'·stream, river
Derived Terms
English words from this root