Where does “alien” come from?
Alien comes from Old French alien, from Latin alienus, ultimately derived from Latin ligo meaning to bind, with the prefix ad- indicating movement toward.
alien (English): Any life form of extraterrestrial or...
Definitions
- Any life form of extraterrestrial or...
Ancestry of “alien”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | alien | An outsider or foreign person, especially one who... |
| 2 | Old French | alien | alien; foreign; non-native; alien |
| 3 | Latin | aliēnus | Of that which belongs to another person, place, or object—of another, alien, foreign |
| 4 | Latin | alius | other, another, any other; else; different |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | aljos | another |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂élyos | other, another |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂él- | to grow, nourish |