Etymology

counterbalance

C3O1U1N1T1E1R1B3A1L1A1N1C3E1

Today it means: A weight that is put in opposition to an equal weight so it keeps that in balance. Full definition →

English balance ← Middle English balaunce ← Old French balance
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Proto-Italic*komteros
  6. Proto-Italic*komterād
  7. Latincontrā
  8. Old Frenchcontre-
  9. Anglo-Normancountre-
  10. Middle Englishcounter-
  11. Englishcounter-
  12. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  13. Proto-Indo-European*dwi-
  14. Proto-Italic*dwi-
  15. Latinbi-
  16. Latinlanx
  17. Latinbilanx
  18. Vulgar Latin*bilancia
  19. Old Frenchbalance
  20. Middle Englishbalaunce
  21. Englishbalance
  22. English todaycounterbalance

From counter- + balance.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.