Etymology

bioaccumulative

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Today it means: That tends to accumulate in an organism when the organism's ability to remove it is insufficient. Full definition →

English accumulative ← Middle English accumylaten ← Latin accumulātus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷeyh₃-
  2. Ancient Greekβῐ́ος (bĭ́os)
  3. Ancient Greekβῐο- (bĭo-)
  4. Englishbio-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  6. Proto-Italic*ad
  7. Proto-Italic*ad-
  8. Latinad-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*ḱewh₁-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*ḱuh₁mósder.?
  11. Latincumulus
  12. Latincumulō
  13. Latinaccumulō
  14. Latinaccumulātus
  15. Middle Englishaccumylaten
  16. Englishaccumulate
  17. Englishaccumulative
  18. English todaybioaccumulative

From bio- + accumulative.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.