Where does “pedantic” come from?
Pedantic derives from English pedant, French -ique, Latin -icus, and Proto-Indo-European -kos and pṓds, ultimately from the root ped- meaning foot.
pedantic (English): Like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules...
Definitions
- Like a pedant, overly concerned with formal rules...
Ancestry of “pedantic”, step by step
pedantic traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English pedant
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | pedant | A teacher or schoolmaster; A person who... |
| 2 | Middle French | pedant | teacher; tutor; educator; pedant |
| 3 | Italian | pedante | pedantic; schoolmaster; teacher |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | παιδεία | upbringing; training, education; youth, childhood |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | παιδεύω | I raise, bring up a child; I train, teach,... |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | παῖς | child, son, daughter; young person, child, boy,... |
| 7 | Proto-Hellenic | pā́wits | child |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | péh₂wids | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | peh₂w- | few, little; smallness |