Etymology

asylum

A1S1Y4L1U1M3

Today it means: A place of safety or refuge. Full definition →

Latin asȳlum ← Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon) ← Proto-Hellenic *ə-
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*né
  2. Proto-Indo-European*n̥-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*ə-
  4. Ancient Greekἀ- (a-)
  5. Ancient Greekσύλη (súlē)
  6. Ancient Greekἄσυλος (ásulos)
  7. Ancient Greekἄσυλον (ásulon)
  8. Latinasȳlum
  9. English todayasylum

Learned borrowing from Latin asȳlum, borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.