Where does “meteoric” come from?
Meteoric comes from English meteor plus the suffix -ique from French, -icus from Latin, and -kos from Proto-Indo-European, ultimately from Ancient Greek μετά and Mycenaean Greek 𐀕𐀲.
meteoric (English): Of, pertaining to, or originating from a meteor;...
Definitions
- Of, pertaining to, or originating from a meteor;...
Ancestry of “meteoric”, step by step
meteoric traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English meteor
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | meteor | A fast-moving streak of light in the night sky... |
| 2 | Middle French | météore | — |
| 3 | Latin | meteōrum | meteor |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | μετέωρον | — |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | μετέωρος | lifted up, on high, in air |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | ἀείρω | to lift up, raise, support; to bear, sustain; to... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | h₂wer- | to lift up; to moisten; to flow; to raise, hang |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | wēr- | true |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | wer- | to burn; to cover, heed, notice; squirrel |
via French météorique
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | météorique | meteoric |
| 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' |