Etymology

paleomagnetism

P3A1L1E1O1M3A1G2N1E1T1I1S1M3

Today it means: The study of the strength and direction of the Earth's magnetic field as it has changed over geologic time. Full definition →

English magnetism ← Middle English magnete ← Latin magnēs
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷelh₁-der.?
  2. Ancient Greekπάλαι (pálai)
  3. Ancient Greekπᾰλαιός (pălaiós)
  4. Englishpaleo-
  5. Old Frenchmagnete
  6. Ancient GreekΜάγνης (Mágnēs)
  7. Ancient Greekμᾰ́γνης (mắgnēs)
  8. Latinmagnēs
  9. Middle Englishmagnete
  10. Englishmagnet
  11. Englishmagnetism
  12. English todaypaleomagnetism

From paleo- + magnetism.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.