Where does “heat-seeking” come from?
heat-seeking (English) comes from English seeking, from English -ing, from Old English -ing, from Old English -tūn, from Old English tūn, from Proto-West Germanic tūn, from Proto-Germanic tūną, from Gaulish dunum — smoke; mist, haze.
heat-seeking (English): Of a missile or rocket, able to detect and follow the heat emitted by an aircraft engine or rocket
Definitions
- Of a missile or rocket, able to detect and follow the heat emitted by an aircraft engine or rocket
Ancestry of “heat-seeking”, step by step
heat-seeking traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English seeking
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | seeking | The act of one who seeks; a search or quest to... |
| 2 | English | -ing | Used to form gerunds, a type of verbal nouns,... |
| 3 | Old English | -ing | Forming nouns from verbs, indicating action,... |
| 4 | Old English | -tūn | homestead, village, town |
| 5 | Old English | tūn | enclosure, yard; place; dwelling |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | tūn | fence |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | tūną | fence; enclosure |
| 8 | Gaulish | dunum | fort; hill, hillfort |
| 9 | Proto-Celtic | dūnom | stronghold, rampart |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | dʰewh₂- | smoke; mist, haze |
via English heat
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | heat | Thermal energy; The condition or quality of being... |
| 2 | Middle English | heten | Alternative form of hetien |
| 3 | Old English | hǣtan | to heat; become hot |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | haitijan | to make hot, heat |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | haitijaną | to make hot, heat |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -janą | Derives denominatives from nouns and factitives... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -yéti | Creates intransitive, often deponent,... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | yé- | — |
| 9 | Chichewa | iye | he, she |