Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “coral” come from?

Coral comes from Old French coral, from Latin corallium, from Ancient Greek κοράλλιον, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European séh₂l-.

coral (English): A hard substance made of the limestone skeletons...

Definitions

  1. A hard substance made of the limestone skeletons...

Ancestry of “coral”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchcoral—
2Latincoralliumcoral
3Ancient Greekκοράλλιονcoral
4Ancient Greekἅλςsalt; brine; sea
5Ancient Greek-ῐοςbelonging to; of”, “belonging to”, “pertaining to
6Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

Words derived from “coral”

  • Coral
  • corallite
  • coralloid
  • coralligenous
  • coralberry
  • octocoral
  • coralroot
  • coraled
  • coralliform
  • coralfish
  • corally
  • coralliferous
  • noncoral
  • hexacoral
  • coralise
  • coraller
  • corallaceous
  • coralize
  • coralligerous
  • coral island
  • coralwort
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →