Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “anomaly” come from?

Anomaly comes from Latin anomalia, from Ancient Greek ἀνωμαλία, from ἀνώμαλος meaning uneven, formed from the prefix ἀ- (not) and sem- (one).

anomaly (English): A deviation from a rule or from what is regarded...

Definitions

  1. A deviation from a rule or from what is regarded...

Ancestry of “anomaly”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinanomalia—
2Ancient Greekἀνωμαλίαinequality, irregularity, unevenness,...
3Ancient Greekἀνώμαλοςuneven, irregular; precarious; inconsistent,...
4Ancient Greekἀ-The alpha privativum, used to make words that...
5Proto-Hellenichə-same; together
6Proto-Indo-Europeansm̥-one; with, together
7Proto-Indo-Europeansem-together, one

Words derived from “anomaly”

  • anomalistic
  • anomalistically
Every word from Proto-Indo-European sem- →