Etymology

polybasic

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Today it means: containing two or more replaceable hydrogen atoms; see also polyprotic Full definition →

English basic ← Ancient Greek πολῠ́ς (polŭ́s) ← Proto-Indo-European *polh₁ús
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
  3. Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
  4. Englishpoly-
  5. Englishbasic
  6. English todaypolybasic

From poly- + basic.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.