The story
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
- Proto-Indo-European*ḱm̥-th₂der.?
- Proto-Hellenic*kətá
- Ancient Greekκᾰτᾰ́ (kătắ)
- Ancient Greekκατα- (kata-)
- Proto-Indo-European*gʷelH-
- Proto-Hellenic*gʷəlnō
- Ancient Greekβάλλω (bállō)
- Ancient Greekκᾰτᾰβάλλω (kătăbállō)
- Ancient Greekκαταβολή (katabolḗ)
- English todaycatabolism
From Ancient Greek καταβολή (katabolḗ, “throwing down”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.