Where does “billiard” come from?
Billiard comes from French billard, formed with the French prefix bi- from Latin bis meaning "twice," ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European bʰel- and bʰleh₃-.
billiard (English): A shot in billiards or snooker in which the cue...
Definitions
- A shot in billiards or snooker in which the cue...
Ancestry of “billiard”, step by step
billiard traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French billard
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | billard | billiards; pool table; operating table |
| 2 | French | bille | marble; ball; ball bearing |
| 3 | Middle French | bille | — |
| 4 | Old French | bille | stick; baton; written decree, announcement |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | billia | — |
| 6 | Gaulish | bilia | tall tree |
| 7 | Proto-Celtic | belyom | tree |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰolh₃yom | leaf |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰleh₃- | bloom, flower |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰel- | to sound; to speak, roar, bark; shiny, white; to... |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰōl- | — |
via French billiard
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | billiard | 10, a thousand billion by the long scale, a short... |
| 2 | French | -illiard | illiard |
| 3 | French | milliard | A milliard |
| 4 | French | million | million, 10 |
| 5 | Middle French | million | million, 10 |
| 6 | Old French | millon | — |
| 7 | Italian | milione | million |
| 8 | Italian | mille | thousand |
| 9 | Latin | Mīlle | thousand; 1000 |
| 10 | Proto-Italic | smīɣeslī | thousand |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | smih₂ǵʰéslih₂ | — |