anatomize

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*temh₁-“to cut”
2. Latin · derived fromanatomia“anatomy”
3. Medieval Latin · derived fromanatomizō
4. Middle French · derived fromanatomiser
5. Middle English · inherited fromanatomisen
6. English todayanatomize

From Late Middle English anatomisen, anatomien, anatomen (“to dissect in order to investigate”) borrowed from Middle French anatomiser (modern French anatomiser), or from its etymon Medieval Latin anatomizō, from Latin anatomia (“anatomy”) + -izō. Anatomia is derived from ἀνατομή (anatomḗ, “act of cutting up, dissection”) + -ia (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns); ἀνατομή (anatomḗ) is from ἀνᾰτέμνω (anătémnō, “to cut open”) (from ᾰ̓νᾰ- (ănă-, “up”) + τέμνω (témnō, “to cut, hew; to butcher”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”))) + -η (-ē, suffix forming action nouns). By surface analysis, anatomy + -ize (suffix forming (chiefly similative) verbs).

Words from the same roots