In the books, the words "Apparate" and "Disapparate", like many other neologisms used by Rowling, are capitalised, whereas established English words such as "jinx" and "hex" are not. The words themselves are most likely derived from the French "apparaître" and "disparaître", meaning 'to appear' and 'to disappear'. Another possible derivation is from the English word "apparition", meaning "a supernatural appearance of a person or thing; anything that appears, especially something remarkable or startling; an act of appearing", which comes from the Latin ""apparitio"", meaning attendance. "Disapparate" probably comes from the same word but with the prefix "dis-" expressing negation or reversal.