Etymology

cumulus

cu·mu·lus
C3U1M3U1L1U1S1

Today it means: A heap or mound. Full definition →

Latin cumulus ← Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh₁mósder.?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱewh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱuh₁mósder.?
  3. Latincumulus
  4. English todaycumulus

Learned borrowing from Latin cumulus. Doublet of comble. Sense 2 (“type of cloud”) was coined by the British chemist and amateur meteorologist Luke Howard (1772–1864): see the 1803 quotation.

Words from the same roots

Latincumulus all →

cumulonimbuscumbercumuliform

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.