Where does “detrimental” come from?
Detrimental comes from Latin detrimentum, meaning damage or loss, derived from deterere meaning to wear away, from terere meaning to rub or wear, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European de.
detrimental (English): Causing damage or harm
Definitions
- Causing damage or harm
Ancestry of “detrimental”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | detrimental | — |
| 2 | Latin | detrimentum | harm, loss, damage; defeat; detriment |
| 3 | Latin | dēterō | to rub off, rub away, wear out, rasp |
| 4 | Latin | dē- | of; from |
| 5 | Latin | dē | of; concerning; about |
| 6 | Latin | post | behind; after, since, besides, except; behind,... |
| 7 | Latin | poste | ablative singular of postis |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | posti | behind, after |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | pósti | after |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | pós | afterwards, post; by, at |