Where does “finalist” come from?

Finalist comes from English final, derived from Latin finalis meaning "of the end," from Latin finis meaning "end," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dʰeygʷ-, plus the agent suffix -ista from Ancient Greek -ιστής.

finalist (English): Somebody or something that appears in the final...

Definitions

  1. Somebody or something that appears in the final...

Ancestry of “finalist”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-istAdded to words to form nouns denoting
2Old French-iste—
3Latin-ista-ist; one who practises or believes
4Ancient Greek-ιστήςAlternative form of -τής; -ist
5Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
6Proto-Hellenic-tās—

Words derived from “finalist”

Every word from Proto-Hellenic -tās →Every word from English -ist →Every word from Ancient Greek -τής →