Where does “baby elephant in the room” come from?
baby elephant in the room (English) comes from English baby, from Middle English baby, from Middle English -y, from Old English -iġ, from Proto-West Germanic -g, from Proto-Germanic -gaz, from Proto-Indo-European -ḱos — -y, -ic.
baby elephant in the room (English): An obvious but mostly inconsequential issue
Definitions
- An obvious but mostly inconsequential issue
Ancestry of “baby elephant in the room”, step by step
baby elephant in the room traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English baby
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | baby | A very young human, particularly from birth to a... |
| 2 | Middle English | baby | A child or baby |
| 3 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 4 | Old English | -iġ | -y, -ic |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -g | Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -gaz | -y |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ḱos | -y, -ic |
via English elephant in the room
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | elephant in the room | A problem or difficult issue that is very... |