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from (frŭm, frŏm; frəm when unstressed)
Share:
prep.
1.
a. Used to indicate a specified place or time as a starting point: walked home from the station; from six o'clock on. See Usage Notes at escape, whence.
b. Used to indicate a specified point as the first of two limits: from grades four to six.
2.
a. Used to indicate a source, cause, agent, or instrument: a note from the teacher; taking a book from the shelf.
b. Used to indicate constituent material or materials: a table made from wood.
3. Used to indicate separation, removal, or exclusion: keep someone from making a mistake; liberation from bondage.
4. Used to indicate differentiation: know right from wrong.
5. Because of: faint from hunger.
Idiom:
from away Chiefly Maine
Not native to a state or locality.
[Middle English, from Old English fram, forward, from; see per1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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