Etymology

polar

P3O1L1A1R1

Today it means: Of, relating to, measured from, or referred to a geographic pole (the North Pole or South Pole); within the Arctic or Antarctic circles. Full definition →

Late Latin polāri ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? ← Latin polus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*kʷel-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*kʷól-os
  3. Proto-Hellenic*pólos
  4. Ancient Greekπόλος (pólos)
  5. Latinpolus
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  8. Late Latinpolāri
  9. English todaypolar

Learned borrowing from Late Latin polāris. By surface analysis, pole + -ar.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.