specify

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

Specify’s story begins in Latin: species meant “a kind, a sort.” A kind, a sort, combined with facere (to make). It reached English by 1300s as specify. Settled as the English word for stating something precisely and clearly. Today, specify means to state or identify something precisely and in detail.

1. Stage 1 · Latin · ancient species "a kind, a sort", a kind, a sort, combined with facere (to make).
2. Stage 2 · English · 1300s specify "to state something precisely and in detail", settled as the English word for stating something precisely and clearly.