Where does “erratic” come from?

Erratic comes from Latin erraticus, formed with the suffix -icus from Latin erro, meaning to wander, ultimately from Proto-Italic erzāō.

erratic (English): unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes;...

Definitions

  1. unsteady, random; prone to unexpected changes;...

Ancestry of “erratic”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinerrāticuswandering, roving
2Latin-aticusUsed to form adjectives indicating a relation to...
3Latin-ātused
4Proto-Italic-ātos—
5Proto-Indo-European-éh₂tosForms adjectives from nouns, indicating the possession of a thing or a quality

Words derived from “erratic”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂tos →Every word from Latin -ātus →Every word from Latin -aticus →