Etymology

polyphosphate

P3O1L1Y4P3H4O1S1P3H4A1T1E1

Today it means: any of a class of inorganic polymers containing linked phosphate groups; the low molecular weight polymers, such as sodium tripolyphosphate, are used in water softening and as food additives Full definition →

English phosphate ← French phosphate ← Latin phōsphorus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*polh₁ús
  3. Ancient Greekπολῠ́ς (polŭ́s)
  4. Englishpoly-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéh₂os
  7. Proto-Hellenic*pʰáwos
  8. Ancient Greekφᾰ́ος (phắos)
  9. Ancient Greekφῶς (phôs)
  10. Proto-Indo-European*bʰer-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*bʰéreti
  12. Proto-Hellenic*pʰérō
  13. Ancient Greekφέρω (phérō)
  14. Ancient Greekφωσφόρος (phōsphóros)
  15. Latinphōsphorus
  16. Frenchphosphore
  17. Frenchphosphate
  18. Englishphosphate
  19. English todaypolyphosphate

From poly- + phosphate.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.