Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “political” come from?

Political comes from English politic, derived from Latin politicus, from Greek πολιτικός, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European tpelH-, with the root sense relating to the city-state or πόλις.

political (English): Concerning or relating to politics, the art and...

Definitions

  1. Concerning or relating to politics, the art and...

Ancestry of “political”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishpoliticOf or relating to polity, or civil government;...
2Middle Frenchpolitique—
3Latinpolīticus—
4Swedishpolitiskpolitical, having to do with politics
5Swedishpolitikpolitics
6Ancient Greekπολιτικόςcivic, constitutional, public; social
7Ancient Greekπολῑ́τηςcitizen
8Ancient Greek-τηςForms nouns representing a state of being; Added...
9Proto-Hellenic-tāts—
10Proto-Indo-European-teh₂tsUsed to form nouns representing state of being
11Proto-Indo-European-teh₂Used to form nouns representing state of being
12Proto-Indo-European-tósCreates verbal adjectives from verb stems

Words derived from “political”

  • politically
  • geopolitical
  • sociopolitical
  • apolitical
  • nonpolitical
  • biopolitical
  • geopolitically
  • unpolitical
  • ethnopolitical
  • micropolitical
  • antipolitical
  • religiopolitical
  • macropolitical
  • sociopolitically
  • psychopolitical
  • postpolitical
  • apolitically
  • semipolitical
  • metapolitical
  • ecopolitical
  • biopolitically
  • impolitical
  • nonpolitically
  • technopolitical
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tós →