Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “tonsillitis” come from?

Tonsillitis comes from English tonsil plus the suffix -itis, from Latin tonsillae, Ancient Greek -ῖτις, and Proto-Indo-European ten-.

tonsillitis (English): Inflammation of the tonsils

Definitions

  1. Inflammation of the tonsils

Ancestry of “tonsillitis”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishtonsilEither of a pair of small masses of lymphoid...
2Latintonsillaetonsils
3Proto-Italic*tonslilā—
4Proto-Italictonslis—
5Proto-Indo-Europeanten-to stretch, to extend

Words derived from “tonsillitis”

  • pharyngotonsillitis
  • adenotonsillitis
  • tonsillitic
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ten- →