Where does “humor” come from?
Humor comes from Latin humor, derived from the Latin suffix -or added to a root ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dʰéǵʰōm and wegʰ-, with the suffix -ós.
humor (English): US spelling of humour
Definitions
- US spelling of humour
Ancestry of “humor”, step by step
humor traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via German Humor
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German | Humor | humor (something funny) |
| 2 | Latin | humor | liquid, fluid, humour; first-person singular... |
| 3 | Latin | umor | liquid, fluid, humour; moisture |
| 4 | Latin | -or | used to form a third-declension masculine... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -ōs | Creates masculine action nouns or result nouns... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -ōs | Creates masculine and feminine action nouns or... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -oss | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -os | Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;... |
via Old French humor
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Old French | humor | humor one of four fluids that were believed to control the health and mood of the human body |