culminate

culminate · verb¹

1. Proto-Italic · derived from*kolamen
2. Latin · derived fromculmen“peak, highest point”
3. Medieval Latin · borrowed fromculminātus
4. English todayculminate

First attested in 1647; borrowed from Medieval Latin culminātus, perfect passive participle of culminō (“to crown”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from Latin culmen (“peak, highest point”, oblique stem culmin-) + -ō (verb-forming suffix), older form columen (“top, summit”), from Proto-Italic *kolamen, from a Proto-Indo-European base *kol-, *kelH- (“to project, rise; peak, summit, top”), whence also English hill and holm.

culminate · adjective²

First attested in 1846; by surface analysis, Latin culmen (oblique stem culmin-) + -ate (adjective-forming suffix), see Etymology 1.

Words from the same roots