Where does “litotes” come from?

litotes (Latin) comes from Ancient Greek λιτότης, from Ancient Greek -τής, from Ancient Greek πεῖρα, from Proto-Indo-European per-, from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós — passed , crossed.

litotes (Latin): litotes

Definitions

  1. litotes

Ancestry of “litotes”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Ancient Greekλιτότηςplainness, simplicity; litotes, understatement
2Ancient Greek-τήςAppended to verbs to form agent nouns
3Ancient Greekπεῖραtrial, experiment, attempt
4Proto-Indo-Europeanper-before, in front; first; to go through
5Proto-Indo-Europeanpr̥tóspassed , crossed

Words derived from “litotes”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European pr̥tós →Every word from Proto-Indo-European per- →Every word from Ancient Greek -τής →