Etymology

eigenfunction

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Today it means: A function ϕ such that, for a given linear operator D, Dϕ=λϕ for some scalar λ (called an eigenvalue). Full definition →

English function ← Middle French function ← Old French fonction
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eyḱ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂eh₂óyḱe
  3. Proto-Germanic*aiganą
  4. Proto-Germanic*aiganaz
  5. Proto-West Germanic*aigan
  6. Old High Germaneigan
  7. Middle High Germaneigen
  8. Germaneigen
  9. Englisheigen-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*bʰewg-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*bʰunégti
  12. Proto-Italic*fungōr
  13. Latinfungor
  14. Latinfūnctiō
  15. Old Frenchfonction
  16. Middle Frenchfunction
  17. Englishfunction
  18. English todayeigenfunction

From eigen- + function.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.