Where does “multifemale” come from?
multifemale (English) comes from English female, from Middle English female, from Middle English femelle, from Old French femelle, from Medieval Latin femella, from Latin femella, from Latin -lus, from Proto-Italic -elos — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
multifemale (English): Comprising more than one female
Definitions
- Comprising more than one female
Ancestry of “multifemale”, step by step
multifemale traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English female
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | female | Belonging to the sex which typically produces... |
| 2 | Middle English | female | — |
| 3 | Middle English | femelle | — |
| 4 | Old French | femelle | female |
| 5 | Medieval Latin | femella | a female; girl, young woman; vocative singular of... |
| 6 | Latin | femella | girl, young woman; vocative singular of femella;... |
| 7 | Latin | -lus | Alternative form of -ulus; diminutive suffix |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |
via English multi
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | multi | A multituberculate; Neolamprologus multifasciatus |
| 2 | English | multituberculate | Having molars with multiple rows of cusps; Any of... |
| 3 | English | tuberculate | Having tubercles; Tubercular |
| 4 | Latin | tuberculatus | warty, tuberculate |
| 5 | Latin | tūberculum | a small swelling, bump, or protuberance; a boil, pimple, tubercle |
| 6 | Latin | tūber | a hump, bump, swelling, protuberance; excrescence |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | tūβos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | tewh₂- | to swell; to crowd; to be strong |