Where does “electrician” come from?
Electrician comes from English electric plus the agent suffix -ian, derived from Latin -ianus, itself from Latin -icus, traced to Proto-Indo-European -kos and related suffixes forming agent nouns.
electrician (English): A tradesman who installs, repairs and maintains...
Definitions
- A tradesman who installs, repairs and maintains...
Ancestry of “electrician”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | electric | Of, relating to, produced by, operated with, or... |
| 2 | English | -ally | used with adjectives ending in -ic |
| 3 | English | ahistoric | Synonym of ahistorical |
| 4 | English | historic | Very important; noteworthy: having importance or... |
| 5 | Latin | historicus | historical |
| 6 | Latin | historia | history; account; story |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | ἱστορία | inquiry, examination, systematic observation,... |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | ἱστορέω | to inquire, ask; to examine, observe; to record,... |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | ἵστωρ | one who knows law and right, judge; witness; a... |
| 10 | Proto-Hellenic | wístōr | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | wéydtōr | one who has seen, one who knows |
| 12 | Indo-European | *weyd- | — |