Where does “ballpoint” come from?
Ballpoint derives from English ball and English point, ultimately tracing to Ancient Greek βάλλω meaning "to throw," which developed into the modern sense of a pen with a rolling ball mechanism for writing.
ballpoint (English): A ballpoint pen; A kind of needle with a rounded...
Definitions
- A ballpoint pen; A kind of needle with a rounded...
Ancestry of “ballpoint”, step by step
ballpoint traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English Ball
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Ball | surname |
| 2 | Middle English | bal | A ball; A rounded or spherical lump or bump,... |
| 3 | Old English | beall | ball |
| 4 | English | beal | A small inflammatory tumor; pustule; To gather... |
| 5 | Old English | hyll | hill |
| 6 | Albanian | hulli | furrow |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | hulliz | hill |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | kl̥Hnís | hill |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | kelH- | to rise, to be tall; hill |
via English point
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | point | A discrete division of something; A sharp... |
| 2 | Middle English | point | — |
| 3 | Old French | point | a sting; a prick; moment; time; dot |
| 4 | Latin | pūnctum | point |
| 5 | Latin | punctus | pricked, punctured, pierced, having been pricked;... |
| 6 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |