Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “caliber” come from?

Caliber comes from French calibre, from Italian calibro, from Ancient Greek καλόπους meaning "beautiful-footed," ultimately from Ancient Greek ξύλον.

caliber (English): Diameter of the bore of a firearm, typically...

Definitions

  1. Diameter of the bore of a firearm, typically...

Ancestry of “caliber”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchcalibrecalibre; first-person singular present indicative...
2Italiancalibrocaliber, bore; callipers; template
3Arabicقَالِبform, mold; form, mould; mold
4Classical Syriacܩܠܒܝܕlast
5Ancient Greekκαλοπόδιονshoemaker's last
6Ancient Greekκᾱλόπους—
7Ancient Greekπούςfoot; leg; Greek foot or pous, the ancient Greek...
8Proto-Indo-Europeanpṓdsfoot
9Proto-Indo-Europeanpóds—
10Proto-Indo-Europeanped-to walk, to step; to stumble, to fall

Words derived from “caliber”

  • calibration
  • cal
  • calibre
  • calibrate
  • calipers
  • recalibration
  • recalibrate
  • calibrator
  • intercalibration
  • caliver
  • autocalibration
  • miscalibration
  • subcaliber
  • subcalibre
  • calibratable
  • intercalibrate
  • crosscalibration
  • miscalibrate
  • monocaliber
  • polycaliber
  • decalibrate
  • multicalibre
  • multicaliber
  • recalibrator
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ped- →