Where does “uncommon” come from?
Uncommon derives from English common, which combines Latin communis (from Proto-Indo-European ḱóm, meaning "with") and Latin unus (from Proto-Indo-European óynos, meaning "one"), prefixed with the negation ne.
uncommon (English): Rare; not readily found; unusual; Remarkable;...
Definitions
- Rare; not readily found; unusual; Remarkable;...
Ancestry of “uncommon”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | common | Mutual; shared by more than one; Occurring or... |
| 2 | Middle English | comun | Shared, common; belonging to all in a group |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | comun | common |
| 4 | Old French | comun | common |
| 5 | Latin | commūnis | common, commonplace, ordinary, general, universal, shared, shared alike, of both sides, belonging to two or more together |
| 6 | Old Latin | com(m)oinis | — |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | kommoinis | common |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱom-moy-ni- | held in common |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 11 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 12 | German | kitt | putty certain kinds of cement used for fixing e.g. window panes |
| 13 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 14 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 15 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |