Where does “mercuric” come from?
Mercuric comes from English Mercury via Latin -icus and Proto-Indo-European -kos, ultimately deriving from Proto-Italic merk-.
mercuric (English): Pertaining to or derived from mercury;...
Definitions
- Pertaining to or derived from mercury;...
Ancestry of “mercuric”, step by step
mercuric traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via French mercurique
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | mercurique | mercuric |
| 2 | French | -ique | Used to form adjectives from nouns: -ic, -ical,... |
| 3 | Middle French | -ique | ic |
| 4 | Old French | -ique | -ic |
| 5 | Latin | -icus | belonging to; derived from; of or pertaining to;... |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | *-ikos | forms adjectives with the sense of 'of or pertaining to' |