English

public school

Certain private schools, particularly (initially) any grammar school operated apart from the personal lands of its students or (from the 19th century) the feepaying secondary schools which developed from or were modelled upon them; a British boarding school.

    Etymology graph

    • inherited
    • borrowed
    • derived
    • parts
    • meaning component
    • sound component
    • related
    React Flow

    Click a node to zoom in · double-click to open it

    Origin

    From public + school: originally, “public” in the sense of "communal" and contrasted with personal tutors; later, "state-run" and contrasted with private schools.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • partEnglishpublic “Able to be known or seen by everyone; happening without concealment; open to general view.”
      • inheritedMiddle Englishpublik
        • derivedAnglo-Normanpublic
      • semantic loanRussianпа́блик
        • semantic loanUkrainianпа́блік “public webpage on a blog or on social media”
    • partEnglishschool “An institution dedicated to teaching and learning; an educational institution.”
      • inheritedMiddle Englishscole
        • inheritedOld Englishscōl “place of education”
        • derivedMiddle Dutchscole “multitude, troop, band”

    Sources