Etymology

ballistocardiograph

Today it means: An instrument which measures ballistic forces on the heart, producing a graphical representation of repetitive motions of the human body arising from the sudden ejection of blood into the great vessels with each heartbeat. Full definition →

English cardiograph ← Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) ← Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō
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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. Englishballistic
  8. Englishballisto-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*ḱerd-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*ḱḗr
  11. Proto-Indo-European*ḱr̥díyeh₂
  12. Proto-Hellenic*kərdíyā
  13. Ancient Greekκαρδία (kardía)
  14. Englishcardio-
  15. Proto-Indo-European*gerbʰ-
  16. Proto-Hellenic*grə́pʰō
  17. Ancient Greekγράφω (gráphō)
  18. Englishcardiograph
  19. English todayballistocardiograph

From ballisto- + cardiograph.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.