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

mineral traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via French minéral

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-ārefirst conjugation
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

via Middle English mineral

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishmineral
2Old Frenchmineral

Words derived from “mineral

Every word from Chichewa iyeEvery word from Proto-Indo-European -yétiEvery word from Latin -āre