Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “stratosphere” come from?

Stratosphere comes from French stratosphère, combining French strate (layer) with French -sphère from Latin sphera, ultimately from Ancient Greek σφαῖρα meaning ball or sphere.

stratosphere (English): Collectively, those layers of the Earth’s crust...

Definitions

  1. Collectively, those layers of the Earth’s crust...

Ancestry of “stratosphere”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Frenchstratosphèrestratosphere
2French-sphère-sphere
3Late LatinspheraAlternative form of sphaera
4Latinsphaeraball, globe, sphere; a globe of the heavens; a...
5Ancient Greekσφαῖραball, globe, sphere
6Ancient Greek-ειδήςlike, connected to, from the nature of, full of;...
7Ancient Greek-ήςadjective suffix
8Proto-Indo-European-ēsPrimarily forms adjectival bahuvrīhi compounds
9Proto-Indo-European-ess—
10Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...

Words derived from “stratosphere”

  • stratospheric
  • stratospherically
  • nonstratospheric
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -os →