Where does “mucous” come from?

Mucous comes from Late Latin mucosus, formed from Latin mucus with the suffix -osus, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European mew- meaning slime or nasal mucus.

mucous (English): Pertaining to mucus; Having the qualities of...

Definitions

  1. Pertaining to mucus; Having the qualities of...

Ancestry of “mucous”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinmūcōsusslimy
2Latinmūcusmucus
3Proto-Italicmoukos—
4Proto-Indo-Europeanmew-k-slimy, slippery; slip, slime

Words derived from “mucous”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European mew-k- →Every word from Proto-Italic moukos →Every word from Latin mūcus →