Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “homonym” come from?

homonym (English) comes from Latin homōnymum, from Ancient Greek ὁμώνυμον, from Ancient Greek ὄνομα, from Proto-Indo-European h₁nómn̥, from Proto-Indo-European h₃neh₃- — to name.

homonym (English): A word that both sounds and is spelled the same...

Definitions

  1. A word that both sounds and is spelled the same...

Ancestry of “homonym”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinhomōnymum—
2Ancient Greekὁμώνυμον—
3Ancient Greekὄνομαname; fame; noun, in the wide sense: referring to...
4Proto-Indo-Europeanh₁nómn̥name
5Proto-Indo-Europeanh₃neh₃-to name

Words derived from “homonym”

  • homonymic
Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₃neh₃- →