Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “organism” come from?

Organism comes from Ancient Greek ὄργανον, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European werǵ-, meaning to work or do.

organism (English): A discrete and complete living thing, such as...

Definitions

  1. A discrete and complete living thing, such as...

Ancestry of “organism”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchorganismeorganism; organisation
2French-ïsme-ism, variant of -isme following vowels
3Latin-ismaAlternative form of -ismus; -ism
4Latin-ismus-ism
5Ancient Greek-ισμόςForms abstract nouns
6Ancient Greek-μόςForms abstract nouns
7Proto-Indo-European-mósCreates action/result nouns from verb stems

Words derived from “organism”

  • microorganism
  • cyborg
  • organismic
  • organismal
  • superorganism
  • macroorganism
  • microorganismal
  • intraorganismal
  • cyborglike
  • supraorganism
  • extraorganismal
  • bioorganism
  • protoorganism
  • nonorganism
  • multi-organismic
  • paleo-organism
  • superorganismo
  • supraorganismo
  • organismo
  • microorganismo
  • Cyborg
  • ciborgue
  • mikro-organismi
  • organismi
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -mós →