Where does “rainforest” come from?

Rainforest combines English rain with forest, which derives from Old French forest, from Latin foris meaning "outside," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European dʰwer- meaning "door" or "threshold."

rainforest (English): A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall...

Definitions

  1. A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall...

Ancestry of “rainforest”, step by step

rainforest traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via German Regenwald

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1GermanRegenwaldrainforest
2Germanwaldforest; woods; woodland
3Middle High Germanwalt—
4Old High Germanwaldforest
5Proto-West Germanicwalþuforest
6Proto-Germanicwalþuzforest
7Proto-Indo-Europeanwel-to see

via English rain

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishrainCondensed water falling from a cloud; Any matter...
2Middle Englishreynrain water falling from a cloud
3Old Norsereina strip of land
4Proto-Germanicrainōbaulk, ridge
5Proto-Indo-Europeanrēy-thing; possession; to regulate, count; to count,...

via English forest

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishforestA dense uncultivated tract of trees and...
2Middle EnglishforestA forest or wood; A preserve for hunting...
3Old Frenchforestforest, royal hunting ground
4Latinforestisdative plural of foresta; ablative plural of...

Words derived from “rainforest”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European wel- →