Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “sub” come from?

Sub comes from Latin sub, from Proto-Italic supo, from Proto-Indo-European upo, from the root h₃ewp-.

sub (English): A submarine; A submarine sandwich: a sandwich...

Definitions

  1. A submarine; A submarine sandwich: a sandwich...

Ancestry of “sub”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishsubstituteTo use in place of something else, with the same...
2Middle Englishsubstituten—
3Latinsubstitutussubstituted
4LatinsubstituoI place next to, under, or instead of; I...
5LatinstatuoI set up, station; I establish, determine, fix; I...
6Latinstātus—
7Latinstō—
8Proto-Italicstaēōstand
9Proto-Indo-Europeansth₂éh₁yeti—
10Proto-Indo-European*steh₂-—

Words derived from “sub”

  • subchaser
  • minisub
  • antisub
  • resub
  • subbie
  • malesub
  • subcostalis
  • subreddit
  • sub
Every word from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- →