Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “ligament” come from?

Ligament comes from Latin ligamentum, the noun form of ligāre, meaning "to bind," which derives from Proto-Indo-European leyǵ-.

ligament (English): A band of strong tissue that connects bones to...

Definitions

  1. A band of strong tissue that connects bones to...

Ancestry of “ligament”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishligament—
2Latinligāmentum—
3Latin-mentuminstrument, medium, or result of; e.g....
4Latin-mentanominative plural of -mentum; accusative plural...
5Proto-Indo-European-mn̥Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs

Words derived from “ligament”

  • ligamentous
  • capsuloligamentous
  • ligamentary
  • ligamentotaxis
  • ligamental
  • subligamentous
  • intraligamentary
  • musculoligamentous
  • transligamentous
  • intraligamentous
  • extraligamentous
  • ligamentomuscular
  • juxtaligamental
  • preligamentous
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -mn̥ →