'misappropriate' originates from English, specifically formed by the prefix 'mis-' (from Old English/Middle English meaning 'wrongly') attached to 'appropriate' (from Latin 'appropriare'), where 'mis-' meant 'wrongly' and Latin 'ad-' (in 'appropriare') meant 'to/toward' and 'proprius' meant 'own'.

'appropriate' came into English via Old French 'approprier' from Latin 'appropriare'; the combining form with the negative/prefix 'mis-' produced the modern English 'misappropriate' in Early Modern English, which then yielded the past/past-participle form 'misappropriated'.

Initially, the root sense (from Latin) conveyed 'to make one's own' or 'to take as one's own'; with the addition of 'mis-' the word evolved to mean 'to take or use something wrongly or dishonestly,' which is the present meaning.