Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “science” come from?

Science comes from Middle English science, from Old French science, from Latin scientia, formed from the Latin root meaning "to know" with the suffix -ia, ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European sek-.

science (English): A particular discipline or branch of learning,...

Definitions

  1. A particular discipline or branch of learning,...

Ancestry of “science”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishsciencefacts, knowledge; that which is known; One's...
2Old Frenchscienceknowledge; wisdom
3Latinscientiaknowledge; nominative neuter plural of sciēns;...
4Latinsciēns—
5Latinsciō—
6Proto-Indo-Europeansḱēy-to shine; to shimmer; shadow; luster, gloss,...
7Proto-Germanicskaidąseparation, distinction
8Proto-Indo-EuropeanskÁit-to cut, part, spearate, divide; to cut, part,...

Words derived from “science”

  • neuroscience
  • scientism
  • pseudoscientific
  • technoscience
  • scientistic
  • nanoscience
  • bioscience
  • geoscience
  • nonscience
  • ethnoscience
  • agriscience
  • antiscience
  • cyberscience
  • metascience
  • protoscience
  • inscience
  • sciencey
  • superscience
  • parascience
  • proscience
  • interscience
  • telescience
  • sciency
  • subscience
Every word from Proto-Indo-European skÁit- →