Where does “pointer” come from?
Pointer comes from English point plus the agent suffix -er, with point deriving from Old French point (from Latin punctum, the past participle of pungere meaning to prick or pierce) and -er from Old French -er (from Latin -āre infinitive endings and -ārius agent suffix).
pointer (English): Anything that points or is used for pointing; A...
Definitions
- Anything that points or is used for pointing; A...
Ancestry of “pointer”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | point | A discrete division of something; A sharp... |
| 2 | Middle English | point | — |
| 3 | Old French | point | a sting; a prick; moment; time; dot |
| 4 | Latin | pūnctum | point |
| 5 | Latin | punctus | pricked, punctured, pierced, having been pricked;... |
| 6 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |