Where does “paleontologist” come from?

Paleontologist comes from English paleontology plus Latin -ista, from Ancient Greek -ιστής, derived from Ancient Greek -ίζω, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -idyé-.

paleontologist (English): One who studies paleontology

Definitions

  1. One who studies paleontology

Ancestry of “paleontologist”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-istAdded to words to form nouns denoting
2Old French-iste—
3Latin-ista-ist; one who practises or believes
4Ancient Greek-ιστήςAlternative form of -τής; -ist
5Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
6Proto-Hellenic-tās—

Words derived from “paleontologist”

Every word from Proto-Hellenic -tās →Every word from English -ist →Every word from Ancient Greek -τής →