Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “masseter” come from?

Masseter derives from Ancient Greek μασητήρ, from the verb μασᾶσθαι meaning "to chew," with the agent noun suffix -tḗr from Proto-Indo-European.

masseter (English): The large muscle which raises the under jaw, and...

Definitions

  1. The large muscle which raises the under jaw, and...

Ancestry of “masseter”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Ancient GreekμασητήρChewer; a muscle of the lower jaw, used in...
2Ancient Greek-τήρAdded to verb stems to form masculine agent nouns
3Proto-Indo-European-tḗrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...

Words derived from “masseter”

  • masseteric
  • zygomasseteric
  • vestibulomasseteric
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tḗr →