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Today it means

expedite

to speed up a process

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Where does the word "expedite" come from? It comes from Latin expedire, and was adopted directly into English (1400s).

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Where does the word "expedite" come from? It comes from Latin expedire, and was adopted directly into English (1400s).

Expedite’s story begins in Latin: expedire meant “to free the feet.” 'ex-' plus 'pes', foot: to free from a snare. It reached English by 1400s as expedite. 'expedition' shares the root. Today, expedite means to speed up a process.

  1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient expedire "to free the feet", 'ex-' plus 'pes', foot: to free from a snare.
  2. Stage 2 · English · 1400s expedite "to speed up", 'expedition' shares the root.

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