Where does “graffiti” come from?
Graffiti comes from Italian graffiti, the plural of graffito, from Italian graffio meaning scratch, ultimately from Ancient Greek γρᾰ́φειν meaning to write or scratch.
graffiti (English): Drawings or words drawn on a surface in a public...
Definitions
- Drawings or words drawn on a surface in a public...
Ancestry of “graffiti”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Italian | graffiti | plural of graffito |
| 2 | Spanish | graffito | — |
| 3 | Italian | graffio | scratch; first-person singular present indicative... |
| 4 | Lombardic | *krapfo | — |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | krappō | a hook |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | grep- | hook; a hook, force |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | gremb- | crooked, uneven |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ger- | to turn, bend, twist, wind; to tie, bind... |