Where does “penile” come from?
Penile comes from Latin -ilis, derived from Proto-Indo-European pes- meaning foot, through the diminutive formation pes-ni-s and the adjectival suffix -lós.
penile (English): Pertaining to the penis
Ancestry of “penile”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | -ile | tending to, or capable of |
| 2 | Latin | -ilis | -ile |
| 3 | Proto-Italic | -elis | — |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | -elis | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |
Words derived from “penile”