Where does “playlist” come from?
Playlist is a modern English compound of play and list, ultimately deriving from Middle English pleȝen and list, with pleȝen tracing to Proto-Indo-European roots related to movement and action.
playlist (English): A list of recorded songs scheduled to be played...
Definitions
- A list of recorded songs scheduled to be played...
Ancestry of “playlist”, step by step
playlist traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English play
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | play | To act in a manner such that one has fun; to... |
| 2 | Middle English | pleye | Happiness, mirth, jolliness, or gaiety; Fun,... |
| 3 | Old English | pleġa | exercise |
| 4 | Proto-West Germanic | plegō | care; an exercise; a game |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -ō | Creates adverbs from adjectives; Creates agent... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -ô | -ly; Forms agent nouns, often from the zero-grade... |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ō | Derives nouns from roots |