*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of actus

From Latin āctus (“a cattle drive; a cattle path; units of length and area”). Doublet of act.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A former Roman unit of length, equal to 120 Roman feet (about 35.5 m) · A former Roman unit of area, equivalent to a square with sides of 1 actus (about 0.125 ha)

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Latin āctus (“a cattle drive; a cattle path; units of length and area”). Doublet of act.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Derivation mentionāctusla
  • Doublet mentionacten
Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "āctus",
        "4": "",
        "5": "a cattle drive; a cattle path; units of length and area"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin āctus (“a cattle drive; a cattle path; units of length and area”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "act"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of act"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "āctus",
      "actus#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "cattle",
      "cattle"
    ],
    [
      "drive",
      "drive"
    ],
    [
      "cattle",
      "cattle"
    ],
    [
      "path",
      "path"
    ],
    [
      "unit",
      "unit"
    ],
    [
      "length",
      "length"
    ],
    [
      "area",
      "area"
    ],
    [
      "act",
      "act#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A former Roman unit of length, equal to 120 Roman feet (about 35.5 m)",
        "A former Roman unit of area, equivalent to a square with sides of 1 actus (about 0.125 ha)"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "historical"
      ],
      "recordId": "e3e124d1482432de1d60230636d800f78bf8e1e82ea201306244a869ea76e354",
      "rawRecordSha256": "ec8c626ce2408eb6805511c3ee3598eb9e3ebdcbc1b142c716e1ea46a7ca7d6c",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 820581
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for actus →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-YWN0dXM