participle (n.) Look up participle at
late 14c., "a noun-adjective," from Old French participle (13c.), variant of participe, from Latin participium, literally "a sharing, partaking," from particeps "sharing, partaking" (see participation). In grammatical sense, the Latin translates Greek metokhe "sharer, partaker," and the notion is of a word "partaking" of the nature of both a noun and an adjective.