Etymology

terminal

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Today it means: A building in an airport where passengers transfer from ground transportation to the facilities that allow them to board airplanes. Full definition →

Late Latin terminālis ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? ← Latin terminus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*terh₂-?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ter-?
  3. Proto-Indo-European*térmn̥
  4. Proto-Italic*termn̥
  5. Proto-Italic*term(e)nos
  6. Latinterminus
  7. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  9. Late Latinterminālis
  10. English todayterminal

Borrowed from Late Latin terminalis (“pertaining to a boundary or to the end, terminal, final”), from Latin terminus (“a bound, boundary, limit, end”). See term, terminus.

Words from the same roots

Latinterminus all →

termterminusEaster termterminalianterminus ad quemterminus ante quemtermon

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.