Where does “bodybuilding” come from?

Bodybuilding derives from English body and English build, with the -ing suffix from Middle English and Old English -ing, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰew- meaning to grow or swell.

bodybuilding (English): A sport in which the aesthetics of muscular...

Definitions

  1. A sport in which the aesthetics of muscular...

Ancestry of “bodybuilding”, step by step

bodybuilding traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English building

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbuildingThe act or process by which something is built;...
2English-ingUsed to form gerunds, a type of verbal nouns,...
3Old English-ingForming nouns from verbs, indicating action,...
4Old English-tūnhomestead, village, town
5Old Englishtūnenclosure, yard; place; dwelling
6Proto-West Germanictūnfence
7Proto-Germanictūnąfence; enclosure
8Gaulishdunumfort; hill, hillfort
9Proto-Celticdūnomstronghold, rampart
10Proto-Indo-Europeandʰewh₂-smoke; mist, haze

via English Body

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishBodyCorpus Christi College, Cambridge
2Middle Englishbodemessenger
3Old Englishbodamessenger, envoy, herald, apostle, angel; prophet
4Proto-Germanicbudômessenger
5Proto-Germanicbeudanąto offer, to bid
6Proto-Indo-Europeanbʰewdʰ-to be awake, be aware

Words derived from “bodybuilding

Every word from Proto-Indo-European dʰewh₂-