dispose

Where does the word "dispose" come from? It comes from Latin disponere, and was adopted directly into English (1300s).

Dispose’s story begins in Latin: disponere meant “to place apart, to arrange.” To place apart, to arrange, from dis- (apart) and ponere (to place). It reached English by 1300s as dispose. Settled as the English word for arranging something, or getting rid of it. Today, dispose means to get rid of something, or to arrange things in a particular way.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient disponere "to place apart, to arrange", to place apart, to arrange, from dis- (apart) and ponere (to place).
2. Stage 2 · English · 1300s dispose "to arrange something, or to get rid of it", settled as the English word for arranging something, or getting rid of it.