Where does “foil” come from?
Foil comes from Old French fueille, from Latin folium meaning "leaf," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰel-.
foil (English): A very thin sheet of metal; Thin...
Definitions
- A very thin sheet of metal; Thin...
Ancestry of “foil”, step by step
foil traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English foil
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | foil | — |
| 2 | Old French | fueille | leaf |
| 3 | Late Latin | folia | nominative plural of folium; accusative plural of... |
| 4 | Latin | folium | a leaf; a petal; a sheet or leaf of paper |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | *foljom | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰolh₃yom | leaf |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰleh₃- | bloom, flower |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰel- | to sound; to speak, roar, bark; shiny, white; to... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰōl- | — |
via Middle English foille
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | foille | — |