Etymology

microfilament

M3I1C3R1O1F4I1L1A1M3E1N1T1

Today it means: A thin filament made of the protein actin and found in cells; part of the cytoskeleton. Full definition →

English filament ← Medieval Latin fīlāmentum ← Late Latin fīlō
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-der.?
  2. Ancient Greekμῑκρός (mīkrós)
  3. Ancient Greekμῑκρο- (mīkro-)
  4. Englishmicro-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-
  6. Proto-Italic*fī(s)lom
  7. Latinfīlum
  8. Late Latinfīlō
  9. Medieval Latinfīlāmentum
  10. Englishfilament
  11. English todaymicrofilament

From micro- + filament.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.