Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “relevant” come from?

Relevant derives from Old French relevant, from Latin relevans (present participle of relevo, meaning "to lift up" or "lighten"), formed from the prefix re- and levis ("light" in weight), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₁lengʰ-.

relevant (English): Directly related, connected, or pertinent to a...

Definitions

  1. Directly related, connected, or pertinent to a...

Ancestry of “relevant”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchrelevantassisting
2Latinrelevāns—
3Latinrelevō—
4Latinrĕ-—
5Latinprōdūcō—
6Latinprō-—
7Proto-Italic*pro-—
8Proto-Indo-Europeanpro-toward, forward
9Proto-Indo-Europeanpor-to give birth; forward, through; going, passage
10Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
11Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “relevant”

  • relevance
  • irrelevant
  • relevancy
  • irrelevantly
  • relevantly
  • irrelevancy
  • nonrelevant
  • biorelevant
  • omnirelevance
  • omnirelevant
  • nonrelevance
  • רלוונטי
Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →