Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “spontaneous” come from?

Spontaneous comes from Latin spontaneus, formed from sponte with the suffix -anus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -ós.

spontaneous (English): Self-generated; happening without any apparent...

Definitions

  1. Self-generated; happening without any apparent...

Ancestry of “spontaneous”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinspontāneus—
2Latin-āneus—
3Latin-eusargentum + API → argenteus; ferrum + API →...
4Proto-Italic*-eos—

Words derived from “spontaneous”

  • spontaneously
  • nonspontaneous
  • spontaneousness
  • unspontaneous
  • subspontaneous
  • subspontaneously
Every word from Proto-Italic *-eos →