kinesics

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱey-“to be lying down; to settle”
2. Ancient Greek · learned borrowing fromκῑ́νησῐς“motion”
3. English todaykinesics

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κῑ́νησῐς (kī́nēsĭs, “motion”, noun) + English -ics (suffix forming nouns denoting fields of knowledge or practice), coined by the American anthropologist Ray L. Birdwhistell (1918–1994) in his work Introduction to Kinesics (1952) (see the quotation). Κῑ́νησῐς (Kī́nēsĭs) is derived from κῑνέω (kīnéō, “to set in motion, move”) (from Proto-Indo-European *ḱey- (“to be lying down; to settle”)) + -σῐς (-sĭs, suffix forming abstract nouns or nouns of action, process, or result). Compare kinesia and kinesic.

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 1952 The study of non-verbal communication by means of gestures and/or other body movements.