Where does “kneecap” come from?
Kneecap comes from English knee and English cap, which derives from Latin capitālis, meaning of the head, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kauput-.
kneecap (English): The flat, roundish bone in the knee; A metal...
Definitions
- The flat, roundish bone in the knee; A metal...
Ancestry of “kneecap”, step by step
kneecap traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English knee
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | knee | In humans, the joint or the region of the joint... |
| 2 | Middle English | knē | The knee or a similar joint in other animals |
| 3 | Old English | cnēo | generation |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | kneu | knee |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | knewą | knee |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵnéwo- | knee |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | ǵónu | knee |
via English Cap
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Cap | A nickname for the captain of a team, ship, etc |
| 2 | English | Capricorn | Someone with a Capricorn star sign |
| 3 | French | Capricorne | Capricorn |
| 4 | Latin | Capricornus | Capricornus, the constellation of the zodiac |
| 5 | Latin | caper | a male goat, billy goat; vocative singular of... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | *kapros | he-goat |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kápros | he-goat, billy goat |