English

sure

/ʃɔː/
Physically secure and certain, non-failing, reliable.

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    Origin

    From Middle English sure, seur, sur, from Middle French sur or Old French seür, from Latin sēcūrus (“secure”, literally “carefree”), from sē- (“apart”) + cūra (“care”) (compare Old English orsorg (“carefree”), from or- (“without”) + sorg (“care”)). See cure. Doublet of secure and the now obsolete or dialectal sicker (“certain, safe”).

    Displaced native Middle English wis, iwis (“certain, sure”) (from Old English ġewis, ġewiss (“certain, sure”)), as well as Middle English siker (“sure, secure”) (from Old English sicor (“secure, sure”)) with which it was cognate.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishsure
      • derivedMiddle Frenchsur
        • derivedOld Frenchseür “sure”
          • derivedLatinsēcūrus “safe, secure”
            • prefixLatinse- “away”
              • derivedProto-Indo-European*swé “self”
            • partLatincūra “care”
              • inheritedProto-Italic*kʷoizā

    Related: English secure (doublet), Old English orsorg, Old English sicor

    Sources