Etymology Explorer › Latin

Where does “peiorare” come from?

peiorare (Latin) comes from Latin pēior, from Latin malus, from Ancient Greek μηλέα, from Ancient Greek μῆλον, from Proto-Indo-European (s)meh₁l- — small animal”; small animal.

Ancestry of “peiorare”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinpēior—
2Latinmalusunpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad;...
3Ancient Greekμηλέα—
4Ancient Greekμῆλονapple; any fruit from a tree; a woman's breast
5Proto-Indo-European(s)meh₁l-small animal”; small animal
Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)meh₁l- →