Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “parallel” come from?

Parallel comes from Middle French parallèle, derived from Ancient Greek παρά meaning "beside," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European per- meaning "forward" or "through."

parallel (English): Equally distant from one another at all points;...

Definitions

  1. Equally distant from one another at all points;...

Ancestry of “parallel”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchparallèle—
2Latinparallēlus—
3Ancient Greekπαράλληλοςbeside one another, side-by-side; parallel to or...
4Ancient Greekἀλλήλωνreferring back to a plural subject, and...
5Ancient Greekἄλλοςother, another, different, else; in combination...
6Ancient GreekκρίνωTo separate, divide, part, distinguish between...
7Proto-Hellenickríňňō—
8Proto-Indo-Europeankrinyéti—
9Proto-Indo-Europeankrey-to sift, separate, divide

Words derived from “parallel”

  • parallelism
  • parallelization
  • antiparallel
  • parallelize
  • nonparallel
  • subparallel
  • parallelisation
  • parallelizable
  • unparallel
  • parallelly
  • parallelistic
  • parallelise
  • parallelity
  • nonparallelism
  • quasiparallel
  • parallelisable
  • parallelizability
  • teleparallelism
  • ultraparallel
  • pseudoparallel
  • nonparallelizable
  • antiparallelly
  • superparallel
  • teleparallel
Every word from Proto-Indo-European krey- →