Etymo

treasure

A collection of valuable things.

Played on · Day 13 · word 2 of 5

A familiar word, four lives.

How treasure reached English

oldest first

Simplified path. The puzzle showed the main steps; the full route is being checked.

  1. Greek

    thēsauros

    ‘A store of valuables’

  2. Latin

    thesaurus

    ‘Treasure; a collection’

  3. Middle English

    tresor

    ‘Treasure’

  4. English

    treasure

    ‘Valuable possessions’

The story of treasure

Treasure and thesaurus meet in Latin thesaurus and Greek thēsauros. The everyday treasure word passed through French before reaching English. A reference work called a thesaurus preserves a more visibly classical form of the same storehouse idea.

These are selected stages, not every spelling or intermediary. The story identifies omitted links; older forms did not all disappear at once.

Sources

Next: today’s words

Every day, everyone gets the same five words.

Play today’s words