Where does “tortuous” come from?
Tortuous comes from Middle English tortuose, from Old French tortuos, from Latin tortuosus, meaning twisted or winding, derived from tortus, the past participle of torquere, meaning to twist.
tortuous (English): Twisted; having many turns; convoluted; Oblique;...
Definitions
- Twisted; having many turns; convoluted; Oblique;...
Ancestry of “tortuous”, step by step
tortuous traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Middle English tortuous
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | tortuous | — |
| 2 | Latin | tortuōsus | twisting, tortuous |
| 3 | Latin | tortus | twisted, crooked; spun, whirled; bent, distorted |
| 4 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 5 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |
via Latin tortuositas
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | tortuositas | — |