Etymology Explorer › Middle English

Where does “theater” come from?

theater (Middle English) comes from Old French teatre, from Latin theātrum, from Ancient Greek θέατρον, from Ancient Greek -τρον, from Proto-Hellenic -tron, from Proto-Indo-European -trom, from Proto-Indo-European -tḗr — Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...

theater (Middle English): A theatre open to the sky; an amphitheatre; Any...

Definitions

  1. A theatre open to the sky; an amphitheatre; Any...

Ancestry of “theater”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchteatretheater
2Latintheātrum—
3Ancient Greekθέατρονtheatre, gathering place; play, spectacle
4Ancient Greek-τρονForms instrument nouns
5Proto-Hellenic-tronForms instrument nouns from verb stems
6Proto-Indo-European-tromForms nouns denoting a tool or instrument
7Proto-Indo-European-tḗrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...

Words derived from “theater”

  • theatre
  • theater
  • theatregoing
  • theatergoer
  • theatregoer
  • metatheatre
  • theatreland
  • pretheater
  • theaterwide
  • nontheater
  • theatremaking
  • antitheater
  • antitheatre
  • theatrette
  • multitheater
  • posttheater
  • minitheater
  • theatromania
  • theatremaker
  • pretheatre
  • theaterette
  • theatreless
  • theaterless
  • paratheater
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tḗr →