Etymology

defenestrate

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Today it means: To eject or throw (someone or something) from or through a window. Full definition →

English defenestrationbf. ← New Latin dēfenestrātiō ← Latin fenestra
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*de
  2. Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
  3. Proto-Italic*dē
  4. Latindē
  5. Etruscan*𐌚𐌍𐌄𐌔𐌕𐌓𐌀 (*fnestra)bor.?
  6. Latinfenestra
  7. New Latindēfenestrātiō
  8. Englishdefenestrationbf.
  9. English todaydefenestrate

First attested in 1904; back-formation from defenestration on the basis of -ate (verb-forming suffix), from New Latin dē- (“out”) + fenestra (“window”) + -ātiō (“-ation”). Equivalent to de- + fenestrate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.