Thread: подождать — etymology

Всем привет!

I would like to understand better the etymology of подождать, which I think has the imperfective form подождить. I see these parts in it:

по- "along with"
-до- "until"
-жд- — Could this be related to идти? To which simple verb are these prefixes (по, до) attached?

ждать (wait)
There is no imperfective form of подождать

It’s hardly etymology. It’s morphology you fight with.

“Подождить” is a rare word meaning “to rain for some time.”

“Подождать” is the perfective form of “ждать,” which we can divide into the prefix “подо-” (being just a variant of “под-” modifying the sense of the stem into “littleness” of action) and the stem “ждать” (“wait”). So, it means “to wait a little time.”

The imperfective would be “поджидать.”