Candidate
Discover the surprising origin of the word 'Candidate'
You wear white to job interviews. A bride wears white on her wedding day. But a Roman politician? He wore it to get hired -- and that's literally what the word "candidate" means.
Most people think "candidate" just means someone applying for a job or office. It sounds official, neutral, modern. Like it comes from some Latin word for "person seeking something."
Close, but you're missing the wardrobe. The Latin word is *candidatus* -- which comes from *candidus*, meaning "white" or "shining white." And here's the specific detail: around 100 BCE in Rome, politicians campaigning for office would wear a special whitened toga called a *toga candida*. The white cloth was ceremonial, visible, meant to show purity and virtue to the voters. So a candidatus wasn't just someone running for office -- he was literally "the whitened one," the guy in the gleaming toga trying to catch your eye in the Forum.
The metaphor stuck around long after Roman togas disappeared. We stopped seeing the white fabric. We just kept the word.
Today when you're a candidate for president, you're no longer visibly whitened -- thankfully -- but you're still performing that same ancient role: trying to look spotless, virtuous, worthy of selection. The clothing is gone. The performance remains.
Turns out, visibility and virtue have always been political partners. Candidate is your word of the day. This is The Why of Words.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the origin of the word Candidate?
- The word 'candidate' comes from the Latin word *candidatus*, which derives from *candidus*, meaning 'white' or 'shining white.' Around 100 BCE in Rome, politicians campaigning for office wore a special whitened toga called a *toga candida* to display purity and virtue to voters.
- Why is it called Candidate?
- It's called 'candidate' because Roman politicians literally wore white togas (*toga candida*) when campaigning for office, making them 'the whitened one' or *candidatus*—a visible, ceremonial display meant to catch voters' eyes in the Forum.
- Where does the word Candidate come from?
- The word comes from Latin *candidatus* (the whitened one), derived from *candidus* (white or shining white), referring to the whitened toga worn by Roman politicians seeking office around 100 BCE.
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