acrostic

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱ-
2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eḱrós
3. Proto-Hellenic[Term?]
4. Ancient Greekἄκρος (ákros)
5. Proto-Indo-European*steygʰ-
6. Ancient Greekστείχω (steíkhō)
7. Ancient Greekστῐ́χος (stĭ́khos)
8. Ancient Greekἀκροστιχίς (akrostikhís)
9. Latinacrostichis
10. Middle Frenchacrostiche
11. English todayacrostic

Borrowed from Middle French acrostiche, acrostique (“acrostic”) (modern French acrostiche), and its etymon Late Latin acrostichis, from Ancient Greek ἀκροστιχίς (akrostikhís), from ἄκρο- (ákro-, prefix indicating, among other things, the extremity or tip of something) + στῐ́χος (stĭ́khos, “row or file of soldiers; line of poetry, verse”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ- (“to climb, go”)).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 16th c. A poem or other text in which certain letters, often the first in each line, spell out a name or message.