Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “laboratory” come from?

Laboratory derives from Latin laboratorium, meaning a place of work, from laborātor (worker) and -torium (place), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European leb- (to stick or cleave).

laboratory (English): A room, building or institution equipped for...

Definitions

  1. A room, building or institution equipped for...

Ancestry of “laboratory”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Medieval Latinlaboratoriumlaboratory
2Latinlabotatoriuslaborable
3Latinlaboratorplowman, tiller of the soil
4Latinlaboratusproduced, having been produced
5LatinlaboroI toil, labor; I endeavor, strive; I suffer, am...
6Latinlaborwork; labour, toil; hardship, trouble, fatigue,...
7Old Latinlabos—
8Romanianlabăpalm; paw
9Hungarianlábleg; foot; support, stand
10Proto-Uralicluwebone
11Proto-Iranian*Hrawpācáh—
12Proto-Indo-Iranian*Hrawpāćás—

Words derived from “laboratory”

  • lab
  • interlaboratory
  • nonlaboratory
  • minilab
  • prelab
  • labware
  • intralaboratory
  • multilaboratory
  • biolab
  • superlab
  • labmate
  • nonlab
  • skylab
  • biolaboratory
  • laboratorily
  • lab work
  • sealab
  • लैब
  • แล็บ
Every word from Proto-Indo-Iranian *Hrawpāćás →