Where does “asbestos” come from?
Asbestos comes from Old French abestos, from Latin asbestos, from Ancient Greek ἄσβεστος, a compound of the negation prefix ἀ- and a root ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European sem- meaning "to extinguish."
asbestos (English): Any of several fibrous mineral forms of magnesium...
Definitions
- Any of several fibrous mineral forms of magnesium...
Ancestry of “asbestos”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Old French | abestos | asbestos |
| 2 | Latin | asbestos | — |
| 3 | Ancient Greek | ἄσβεστος | unquenchable, inextinguishable; endless,... |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | ἀ- | The alpha privativum, used to make words that... |
| 5 | Proto-Hellenic | hə- | same; together |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | sm̥- | one; with, together |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | sem- | together, one |
Words derived from “asbestos”