Etymology

ballistic

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Today it means: Of or relating to ballistics. Full definition →

New Latin ballisticu ← Classical Latin ballista ← Ancient Greek βαλλίστρᾱ (ballístrā)
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷelH-
  2. Proto-Hellenic*gʷəlnō
  3. Ancient Greekβᾰ́λλω (bắllō)
  4. Ancient Greekβαλλίστρᾱ (ballístrā)
  5. Classical Latinballista
  6. New Latinballisticu
  7. English todayballistic

Learned borrowing from New Latin ballisticus, from Classical Latin ballista (“ballista, a military siege engine for throwing stones”) + -icus (adjectival suffix). By surface analysis, ballista + -ic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.