Etymology

orthophosphate

O1R1T1H4O1P3H4O1S1P3H4A1T1E1

Today it means: Any salt or ester of orthophosphoric acid; an ordinary phosphate Full definition →

English phosphate ← French phosphate ← Latin phōsphorus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₃er-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*dʰeh₁-
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₃érdʰeti?
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₃erdʰ-
  5. Proto-Hellenic*ortʰwós
  6. Ancient Greekὀρθός (orthós)
  7. Englishortho-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéh₂os
  10. Proto-Hellenic*pʰáwos
  11. Ancient Greekφᾰ́ος (phắos)
  12. Ancient Greekφῶς (phôs)
  13. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  14. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéreti
  15. Proto-Hellenic*pʰérō
  16. Ancient Greekφέρω (phérō)
  17. Ancient Greekφωσφόρος (phōsphóros)
  18. Latinphōsphorus
  19. Frenchphosphore
  20. Frenchphosphate
  21. Englishphosphate
  22. English todayorthophosphate

From ortho- + phosphate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.