Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “seal” come from?

Seal comes from Middle English sele, from Old English seolh, from Latin sigillum meaning "small mark or image," from Latin signum meaning "sign or mark," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European ser- meaning "to bind or connect."

seal (English): A pinniped , particularly an earless seal or...

Definitions

  1. A pinniped , particularly an earless seal or...

Ancestry of “seal”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishsel—
2Anglo-Normansëel—
3Latinsigillumfigurine, statuette; seal
4Latin-lusAlternative form of -ulus; diminutive suffix
5Proto-Italic-elos—
6Proto-Indo-European-e-lós—
7Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

Words derived from “seal”

  • sealing
  • sealant
  • sealer
  • sealskin
  • unseal
  • resealable
  • goldenseal
  • reseal
  • sealable
  • sealeth
  • sealest
  • unsealer
  • sealability
  • seallike
  • sealery
  • enseal
  • underseal
  • gigaseal
  • overseal
  • sealskinned
  • sealless
  • antisealing
  • counterseal
  • unsealable
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós →