entry
pass
/pæs/Move past, cross, succeed, or hand onward
From Latin, transmitted through Vulgar Latin and Old French pass (step).
from PIE root *pete- "to spread"). The intransitive sense of "go on, move forward, make one's way" is attested
from Latin passus "step, pace" (reconstructed to be
+1 more sourcefrom Vulgar Latin *passare "to step, walk, pass" (source also of Spanish pasar , Italian passare )
+1 more sourcefrom Old French passer "to pass" (11c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English passen
Word Ancestry
from PIE root *pete- "to spread"). The intransitive sense of "go on, move forward, make one's way" is attested
from Latin passus "step, pace" (reconstructed to be
+1 more sourcefrom Vulgar Latin *passare "to step, walk, pass" (source also of Spanish pasar , Italian passare )
+1 more sourcefrom Old French passer "to pass" (11c.)
+1 more sourcefrom Middle English passen
Picture a medieval traveler stepping along a muddy road: each passus was a measured Roman step or pace, and that small physical movement eventually became English pass. The route into English was wonderfully well traveled—Latin passus became Vulgar Latin *passāre, then Old French passer, then Middle English passen in the late 1200s. One linguistic wrinkle remains: etymological sources connect it either with Proto-Indo-European *pete- or *peth₂-, “to spread, stretch out,” while the exact intermediate formation is reconstructed rather than directly recorded. From the same family came the idea of a passage, a passport for getting through borders, and an impasse—a place where passing is impossible; French literally built that last word from in- “not” plus passe “passing.” Even the card-table refusal “pass,” recorded by 1869, preserves the oldest drama of the word: sometimes you move forward, and sometimes you simply let the opportunity go by.
The Story
Picture a medieval traveler stepping along a muddy road: each passus was a measured Roman step or pace, and that small physical movement eventually became English pass. The route into English was wonderfully well traveled—Latin passus became Vulgar Latin *passāre, then Old French passer, then Middle English passen in the late 1200s. One linguistic wrinkle remains: etymological sources connect it either with Proto-Indo-European *pete- or *peth₂-, “to spread, stretch out,” while the exact intermediate formation is reconstructed rather than directly recorded. From the same family came the idea of a passage, a passport for getting through borders, and an impasse—a place where passing is impossible; French literally built that last word from in- “not” plus passe “passing.” Even the card-table refusal “pass,” recorded by 1869, preserves the oldest drama of the word: sometimes you move forward, and sometimes you simply let the opportunity go by.
Modern Usage
An informal way to decline answering or participating.
Kin & Kindred
From 'pass'·step, pace, walk, pass
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary