Where does “tortuous” come from?
tortuous (Middle English) comes from Latin tortuōsus, from Latin tortus, from Latin -tus, from Proto-Italic -tus, from Proto-Indo-European -tus — Derives action nouns from verb roots.
Ancestry of “tortuous”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Latin | tortuōsus | — |
| 2 | Latin | tortus | twisted, crooked; spun, whirled; bent, distorted |
| 3 | Latin | -tus | Forms the past participle of verbs; Forms... |
| 4 | Proto-Italic | -tus | — |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |
Words derived from “tortuous”