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
- A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall...
Ancestry of “rainforest”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | German | Regenwald | rainforest |
| 2 | German | wald | — |
| 3 | Middle High German | walt | — |
| 4 | Old High German | wald | forest |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | walþu | forest |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | walþuz | forest |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | wel- | to see |
Words derived from “rainforest”