Etymology

motile

M3O1T1I1L1E1

Today it means: In organisms: having the power to move spontaneously. Full definition →

Latin mōtus ← Proto-Italic *moweō ← Proto-Indo-European *m(y)owh₁éyeti
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)ewh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)owh₁éyeti
  3. Proto-Italic*moweō
  4. Latinmoveō
  5. Latinmōtus
  6. English todaymotile

From Latin mōtus, perfect passive participle of moveō (“to move”, whence English move), + -ile.

Words from the same roots

Latinmōtus all →

mero motumotificmotu proprio

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.