Where does “quantity” come from?
Quantity comes from Middle English quantite, from Old French quantité, from Latin quantitas, formed from the Latin suffix -tas (abstract noun formation) applied to Latin -tus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -teh₂ and -tós.
quantity (English): A fundamental, generic term used when referring...
Definitions
- A fundamental, generic term used when referring...
Ancestry of “quantity”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | quantite | Number, quantity or amount; Dimension; how big or... |
| 2 | Old French | quantité | — |
| 3 | Latin | quantitās | — |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | ποσότης | — |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | -τής | Appended to verbs to form agent nouns |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | πεῖρα | trial, experiment, attempt |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | per- | before, in front; first; to go through |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | pr̥tós | passed , crossed |
Words derived from “quantity”