Where does “lab” come from?
Lab is a shortened form of laboratory, which derives from Latin laboratorium, an adjective meaning "of work," from Latin laborātor "worker" and the agent suffix -tor, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European leb-.
lab (English): A laboratory; Laboratory experiment, test,...
Definitions
- A laboratory; Laboratory experiment, test,...
Ancestry of “lab”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | laboratory | A room, building or institution equipped for... |
| 2 | Medieval Latin | laboratorium | laboratory |
| 3 | Latin | labotatorius | laborable |
| 4 | Latin | laborator | plowman, tiller of the soil |
| 5 | Latin | laboratus | produced, having been produced |
| 6 | Latin | laboro | I toil, labor; I endeavor, strive; I suffer, am... |
| 7 | Latin | labor | work; labour, toil; hardship, trouble, fatigue,... |
| 8 | Old Latin | labos | — |
| 9 | Romanian | labă | palm; paw |
| 10 | Hungarian | láb | leg; foot; support, stand |
| 11 | Proto-Uralic | luwe | bone |
| 12 | Proto-Iranian | *Hrawpācáh | fox |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-Iranian | *Hrawpāćás | fox |