Where does “corticospinal” come from?

Corticospinal derives from English cortical and spinal, where cortical comes from Latin cortex meaning bark, and spinal from Latin spinalis, both taking the Latin adjectival suffix -alis ultimately from Proto-Indo-European sek- meaning to cut.

corticospinal (English): Of, or pertaining to, or connecting the cerebral...

Definitions

  1. Of, or pertaining to, or connecting the cerebral...

Ancestry of “corticospinal”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishspinalOf or relating to the spine; Having a pithed...
2Latinspīnālisof or belonging to the spine; spinal
3Latinspīnaa thorn or a thorny tree or shrub, such as whitethorn, hawthorn, or blackthorn
4Proto-Italicspeināthorn
5Proto-Indo-Europeanspēy-to stretch; thrive; succeed
Every word from Proto-Indo-European spēy- →Every word from Proto-Italic speinā →Every word from Latin spīna →