Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “tapering” come from?

Tapering comes from English taper, from English tape, from Chinese 兒, from Latin papyrus meaning the papyrus plant, ultimately from Ancient Greek πάπυρος.

tapering (English): present participle of taper; A tapered shape

Definitions

  1. present participle of taper; A tapered shape

Ancestry of “tapering”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Swedishtapera—
2EnglishtaperA slender wax candle; a small lighted wax candle;...
3Middle Englishtapertaper
4Old Englishtaportaper
5Latinpapȳrus—
6French-inefeminine singular of -in; female equivalent of...
7French-épast participle root verb suffix of regular -er...
8Middle French-é—
9Old French-éused to form past participles of regular -er...
10Latin-asuffixed to the roots of verbs, forms agent...
11Proto-Italic-ā—
12Proto-Indo-European-éh₂—

Words derived from “tapering”

  • taperingly
  • untapering
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -éh₂ →