suffrage [LME] The Latin suffragium meant both ‘support’ and ‘right to vote’, and was formed from suf- ‘under, near’ and fragor ‘din, shout of approval’. In medieval Latin, when democracy was not relevant, the ‘support’ sense was strongest, and suffrage first came into English in the sense of prayers for the departed and of intercession. The sense of a vote reappeared in the mid 16th century, with the sense ‘a right to vote’ late 16th century. Suffragette, for a female campaigner for suffrage, was an initially mocking coinage of the early 20th century.