Acclaim
/əˈkleɪm/noun
Public praise or enthusiastic approval.
Did you know?Its deepest ancestor is Latin *clamare*, “to shout,” the same root behind words like *claim* and *proclaim*, showing how speech was treated as an act with force.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kel-
“to call, shout”
Latin
Latin
clamare
“to cry out, shout”
Late Latin
Latin
acclamare
“to shout at, cry approval, applaud”
Old French
Old French
acclamer
“to acclaim, applaud”
Middle English
English
acclamen
“to applaud, praise publicly”
Modern English
English
acclaim
“public praise or enthusiastic approval”