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Today it means

future

the time yet to come

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

Read the full story

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

Future’s story begins in Latin: futurus meant “about to be.” 'about to be', the future participle of esse 'to be'; Cicero's De Divinatione (44 BC) debates whether the future can be foreseen. It reached English by 1300s as future. Came via Old French futur; Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto of 1909 made 'the future' an artistic creed. Today, future means the time yet to come.

  1. Stage 1 · Latin · classical futurus "about to be", 'about to be', the future participle of esse 'to be'; Cicero's De Divinatione (44 BC) debates whether the future can be foreseen.
  2. Stage 2 · English · 1300s future "time to come", came via Old French futur; Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto of 1909 made 'the future' an artistic creed.

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