Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “landmark” come from?

Landmark comes from Middle English landmark, from Old English landmearc, a compound of land and mearc meaning boundary mark, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European lendʰ-.

landmark (English): An object that marks the boundary of a piece of...

Definitions

  1. An object that marks the boundary of a piece of...

Ancestry of “landmark”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishlandmark—
2Old Englishlandmearcboundary marker to denote the extent of one's...
3Old Englishlandland; a country; region within a country:...
4Proto-West Germaniclandland, area of ground
5Proto-Germaniclandąland, area of ground
6Proto-Indo-Europeanlendʰ-land, heath; loins

Words derived from “landmark”

  • Landmarkism
  • landmarkable
  • semilandmark
Every word from Proto-Indo-European lendʰ- →