Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “moot” come from?

Moot comes from Old English mot, from Proto-Germanic mōtaną, from Proto-Indo-European med-, ultimately tracing to Proto-Indo-European roots related to mel- and mey-.

moot (English): Subject to discussion ; arguable, debatable,...

Definitions

  1. Subject to discussion ; arguable, debatable,...

Ancestry of “moot”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishmutualHaving the same relationship, each to each other;...
2Middle Frenchmutuelmutual
3Latinmūtuus—
4LatinmutoI move, remove; I alter, change, modify,...
5Latin-iumSuffix used to form abstract nouns, sometimes...
6Latin-iusforming adjectives from nouns; nominative neuter...
7Proto-Italic-jōsForms comparative adjectives
8Proto-Indo-European-yósCreates adjectives from noun or verb stems

Words derived from “moot”

  • mootness
  • mooting
  • wardmote
  • mooter
  • moothill
  • mootable
  • mootman
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -yós →