Where does “cereal” come from?
Cereal comes from French céréale, from Latin Cerealis, an adjective formed with the suffix -alis from the name Cerēs, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ḱer-.
cereal (English): A type of grass cultivated for its edible...
Definitions
- A type of grass cultivated for its edible...
Ancestry of “cereal”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | céréale | cereal |
| 2 | Latin | Cereālis | famously held by |
| 3 | Latin | Cerēs | Ceres goddess of agriculture |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | kerēs | Ceres |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱerēs | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱer- | to grow, to make grow, to nourish; to plait,... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kr̥- | to turn, to bend |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ker- | army |