Etymology

mental

men·tal
M3E1N1T1A1L1

Today it means: Occurring or experienced in the mind. Full definition →

Middle French menta ← Late Latin mentāli ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?
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mental · adjective, noun1

  1. Proto-Indo-European*men-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*méntis
  3. Proto-Italic*mentis
  4. Latinmēns
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  7. Late Latinmentāli
  8. Middle Frenchmenta
  9. English todaymental

Borrowed from Middle French mental, a learned borrowing from Late Latin mentālis, from Latin mēns (“mind”) + -ālis (adjectival suffix).

mental · adjective, noun2

  1. Proto-Indo-European*men-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*mn̥tós
  3. Proto-Italic*məntom
  4. Latinmentum
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  7. English todaymental

c. 1727, from Latin mentum (“the chin”) + -al.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.