Etymology

sublethal

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Today it means: Less than lethal. Full definition →

English lethal ← Latin sub- ← Proto-Italic *supo
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*upó
  2. Proto-Italic*supo
  3. Latinsub
  4. Latinsub-
  5. Englishsub-
  6. Englishlethal
  7. English todaysublethal

From sub- + lethal.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.