The story
- Proto-Indo-European*prokʷe
- Proto-Indo-European*prokʷism̥mos
- Latinproximus
- Latinproximitās
- Middle Frenchproximité
- Englishproximityclip.
- Englishprox-
- Proto-Indo-European*bʰeh₂-
- Proto-Hellenic*pʰōnā́
- Ancient Greekφωνή (phōnḗ)
- Ancient Greekφωνέω (phōnéō)
- Ancient Greekφώνημα (phṓnēma)
- Englishphonemeclip.
- Englishprox-
- English todayproxemics
From prox- (“proximity, nearness”) + -eme + -ics, or from prox- + -emic + -s. Clipping of proximity + modeling on phonemics. Coined by American anthropologist Edward T. Hall in 1963.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.