Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Paralympic” come from?

Paralympic (English) comes from English paraplegic, from English Pará, from Portuguese Pará, from Portuguese Pera, from Portuguese espera, from Portuguese esperar, from Old Portuguese asperar, from Old Spanish esperar — to succeed, to prosper.

Paralympic (English): Pertaining to the Paralympics and their...

Definitions

  1. Pertaining to the Paralympics and their...

Ancestry of “Paralympic”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishparaplegicOf, related to, or suffering from paraplegia; A...
2EnglishPará—
3PortugueseParáa state in the North Region of Brazil
4PortuguesePera—
5Portugueseesperawait
6Portugueseesperarto wait; to hope; to expect; to anticipate
7Old Portugueseasperar—
8Old Spanishesperar—
9Latinspērō—
10Latinspeshope; expectation, anticipation, apprehension
11Proto-Italicspēshope
12Proto-Indo-Europeanspéh₁sprosperity, success
13Proto-Indo-Europeanspeh₁-to succeed, to prosper

Words derived from “Paralympic”

  • paralympisch
Every word from Proto-Indo-European speh₁- →