Etymology

afterpotential

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Today it means: A small, transitory electrical potential that follows, and is dependent upon the main potential produced when a nerve is stimulated; seen as a small positive or negative spike on an oscillograph output. Full definition →

English potential ← Late Latin potentialis ← Middle English after-
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂epó
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ep(o)teros
  4. Proto-Germanic*after
  5. Old Englishæfter
  6. Middle Englishafter
  7. Englishafter
  8. Old Englishæfter
  9. Old Englishæfter-
  10. Middle Englishafter-
  11. Englishafter-
  12. Late Latinpotentialis
  13. Englishpotential
  14. English todayafterpotential

From after- + potential.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.