Etymology

cumacean

C3U1M3A1C3E1A1N1

Today it means: Any small marine crustacean of the order Cumacea, closely related to tanaidaceans. Full definition →

taxonomic name Cumacea ← Ancient Greek κῦμᾰ (kûmă) ← Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh₁éyeti
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱewh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱuh₁éyeti
  3. Ancient Greekκῠ́ω (kŭ́ō)
  4. Ancient Greekκῦμᾰ (kûmă)
  5. taxonomic nameCumacea
  6. English todaycumacean

From taxonomic name Cumacea + -an, from the genus Cuma. Further from Ancient Greek κῦμᾰ (kûmă, “wave; fetus, embryo”), Proto-Hellenic *kūmə and Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- (“to swell”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*ḱewh₁- all →

churchexcavationcoelanaglyphiccoelo-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.