Where does “wreckage” come from?
Wreckage derives from English wreck plus the suffix -age, which comes from Old French -age, from Latin -aticum, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European -kos and -eh₂tos.
wreckage (English): Something wrecked, especially the remains or...
Definitions
- Something wrecked, especially the remains or...
Ancestry of “wreckage”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | wreck | Something or someone that has been ruined; The... |
| 2 | Middle English | wrek | — |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | wrek | shipwreck |
| 4 | Old Norse | wrek | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | wrekaną | to pursue, to drive out |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | wreǵ- | to work, act |