Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “MacGyverism” come from?

MacGyverism (English) comes from English -ism, from Latin -ismus, from Ancient Greek -ισμός, from Ancient Greek -μός, from Proto-Indo-European -mós — Creates action/result nouns from verb stems.

MacGyverism (English): An ingeniously improvised solution to a problem

Definitions

  1. An ingeniously improvised solution to a problem

Ancestry of “MacGyverism”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-ismUsed to form nouns of action or process or result...
2Latin-ismus-ism
3Ancient Greek-ισμόςForms abstract nouns
4Ancient Greek-μόςForms abstract nouns
5Proto-Indo-European-mósCreates action/result nouns from verb stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -mós →