Etymology

circumcision

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Today it means: The surgical excision of the foreskin and usually all or most of the penile frenulum. Full definition →

Middle English circumcisioun ← Old French circumcisioun ← Latin circumcīsiō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(s)ker-
  2. Ancient Greekκίρκος (kírkos)
  3. Latincircus
  4. Latincircum
  5. Latincircum-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂eyd-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*kh₂éydeti
  8. Proto-Italic*kaidō
  9. Latincaedō
  10. Latincircumcīdō
  11. Latincircumcīsiō
  12. Old Frenchcircumcisioun
  13. Middle Englishcircumcisioun
  14. English todaycircumcision

From Middle English circumcisioun, from Old French circumcisiun (modern French circoncision) and its etymon Latin circumcīsiō, from circumcīdō (“cut around”), from circum (“about, around; through”) + caedō (“cut, hew”). By surface analysis, circumcis(e) + -ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.