Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “basalt” come from?

Basalt comes from Late Latin basaltes, from Latin basanites, from Ancient Greek βασανίτης, from Ancient Greek βάσανος, ultimately from Egyptian bḫn.

basalt (English): A hard mafic igneous rock of varied mineral...

Definitions

  1. A hard mafic igneous rock of varied mineral...

Ancestry of “basalt”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinbasaltes—
2Latinbasanites—
3Ancient Greekβασανίτης—
4Ancient Greek-ίτηςSuffix forming a masculine noun: one connected...
5Ancient Greekπολῑ́τηςcitizen
6Ancient Greek-τηςForms nouns representing a state of being; Added...
7Proto-Hellenic-tāts—
8Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
9Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
10Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “basalt”

  • basaltic
  • trachybasalt
  • metabasalt
  • basaltoid
  • trachybasaltic
  • picrobasalt
  • basaltiform
  • basaltware
  • nonbasaltic
  • basalte
  • nonbasalt
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →