Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “punctuation” come from?

Punctuation comes from Medieval Latin punctuatio, derived from Latin punctuo, based on Latin punctum and punctus, the past participle of Latin punctus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European pewḱ-, meaning to prick or pierce.

punctuation (English): A set of symbols and marks which are used to...

Definitions

  1. A set of symbols and marks which are used to...

Ancestry of “punctuation”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Medieval Latinpunctuatioa marking with points, a writing, agreement
2LatinpunctuoI mark with a point or by pointing; point, prick
3Latinpunctuspricked, punctured, pierced, having been pricked;...
4Latin-tusForms the past participle of verbs; Forms...
5Proto-Italic-tus—
6Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “punctuation”

  • punctuational
  • repunctuation
  • mispunctuation
  • interpunctuation
  • punctuationist
  • punctuationism
  • punctuationless
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →