Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “legal” come from?

Legal comes from Latin legalis, formed from Latin lēg- (from Proto-Italic lēg-) combined with the suffix -alis, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European leǵ-.

legal (English): Relating to the law or to lawyers; Having its...

Definitions

  1. Relating to the law or to lawyers; Having its...

Ancestry of “legal”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinlēgālis—
2Latinlēx—
3Proto-Italiclēg-—
4Proto-Indo-Europeanleǵ-s—
5Proto-Indo-Europeanleǵ-to gather, collect, with derivatives meaning to...

Words derived from “legal”

  • legally
  • legality
  • legalistic
  • paralegal
  • legalization
  • legalism
  • legalize
  • extralegal
  • Legalism
  • medicolegal
  • legalist
  • legalese
  • nonlegal
  • legalisation
  • legalise
  • sociolegal
  • legalistically
  • semilegal
  • prelegal
  • alegal
  • quasilegal
  • extralegally
  • legisign
  • nonlegalistic
Every word from Proto-Indo-European leǵ- →