Where does “camel” come from?

Camel comes from Middle Dutch cameel, from Dutch kameel, from Afrikaans kameel, ultimately from Semitic languages where the word referred to the humped desert animal.

camel (English): A beast of burden, much used in desert areas, of...

Definitions

  1. A beast of burden, much used in desert areas, of...

Ancestry of “camel”, step by step

camel traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via English back

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishbackNear the rear; Not current; Far from the main...
2Frenchbacferry; vat; high school exit exam in France; A...
3Frenchbaccalauréatbaccalaureat; bachelor's degree
4Medieval Latinbaccalaureatusbachelor's degree
5Latinbaccalaureusbachelor
6Latinlaurealaurel, bay tree; crown, wreath or branch of...
7Latinlauruslaurel tree; laurels; a crown of laurel
8English-aceousOf, relating to, resembling or containing the...
9Latin-āceusaceous; resembling, having the nature of, forming, belonging to
10Latin-āxish, -y
11Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
12Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
13Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
14Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

via Afrikaans kameel

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Afrikaanskameelcamel; giraffe
2DutchkameelA Bactrian camel, "Camelus bactrianus"; A camel,...
3Middle Dutchcameel
4Latincamēlusa camel
5Ancient Greekκάμηλοςcamel
6Proto-Semiticgamal-

via Middle English camel

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishcamelcamel mammal of the genus
2Old FrenchcameilAlternative form of camel

Words derived from “camel

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós