Where does “dragonfly” come from?
Dragonfly derives from English dragon and English fly, where dragon comes from Old French dragon, from Latin draco, from Ancient Greek δράκων, ultimately from a root meaning to see or perceive.
dragonfly (English): An insect of the suborder Epiprocta or, more...
Definitions
- An insect of the suborder Epiprocta or, more...
Ancestry of “dragonfly”, step by step
dragonfly traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English fly
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | fly | Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by... |
| 2 | Middle English | flien | To fly; to travel in the air; To move in the sky;... |
| 3 | Old English | flēogan | to fly |
| 4 | Old English | -ende | equivalent of English -ing; suffix for present... |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | *-andī | — |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -andz | — |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ónts | Derives nouns denoting body parts |
| 8 | Hungarian | önt | to pour; to cast; accusative singular of ön |
| 9 | Hungarian | ön | you |
| 10 | Hungarian | ön- | self- |
| 11 | Turkish | ön | front |
| 12 | Ottoman Turkish | اوك | voice (of human or animal); sound |
| 13 | Proto-Turkic | ǖn | sound, voice |
via English dragon
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | dragon | A legendary serpentine or reptilian creature; An... |
| 2 | English | drag queen | A person, usually male, who dresses up in women's... |
| 3 | English | Queen | A title used before the personal name of a queen |
| 4 | Middle English | quene | A queen; Any powerful woman noble; A female... |
| 5 | Old English | cwene | a woman; inflection of cwēn: ##... |
| 6 | Old English | cwēn | queen; woman, wife, queen |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | kwāni | woman, wife |
| 8 | Proto-Germanic | kwēniz | wife |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷḗn | woman |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷen- | woman |