Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “mineral” come from?

Mineral comes from Middle English mineral, from Old French mineral, from Medieval Latin minerale, from Latin minera, influenced by Middle French miniere.

mineral (English): Any naturally occurring inorganic material that...

Definitions

  1. Any naturally occurring inorganic material that...

Ancestry of “mineral”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchminéralmineral
2GermanMineralmineral
3Medieval Latinmineralemineral, ore, mine; nominative neuter singular of...
4Latinmineramine; vein; mineral
5Middle Frenchminiereunderground passage or area
6Middle French-ierAlternative form of -er
7Middle French-erForms infinitives of first-conjugation verbs;...
8Latin-āre—
9Proto-Italic-āōForms primarily denominative verbs
10Proto-Indo-European-eh₂yétiCreates iterative/ frequentative/ intensive...
11Proto-Indo-European-yétiCreates intransitive, often deponent,...
12Proto-Indo-Europeanyé-—
13Chichewaiyehe, she

Words derived from “mineral”

  • mineralization
  • mineralogy
  • mineralogical
  • mineralocorticoid
  • mineralogist
  • demineralization
  • biomineralization
  • remineralization
  • mineralize
  • minerality
  • mineralogically
  • demineralisation
  • multimineral
  • minerally
  • mineralizable
  • biomineral
  • demineralizer
  • remineralisation
  • nonmineral
  • organomineral
  • remineralize
  • hypomineralization
  • monomineral
  • demineralize
Every word from Chichewa iye →