Where does “colonialism” come from?
Colonialism derives from English colonial, from English colony, from Latin colonus meaning farmer or settler, from Latin colo meaning to cultivate, from Proto-Indo-European kʷel- meaning to dwell or inhabit.
colonialism (English): The policy of a country seeking to extend or...
Definitions
- The policy of a country seeking to extend or...
Ancestry of “colonialism”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | colonial | Of or pertaining to a colony; Of or pertaining to... |
| 2 | English | -ál | Of or pertaining to. Adjectival suffix appended to various words, often nouns, to produce an adjective form. Often added to words of Latin origin, but used with other words also |
| 3 | Middle English | -al | — |
| 4 | Old French | -al | suffix used to form adjectives from nouns |
| 5 | Latin | -ālis | — |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -ālis | forms relational adjectives |