tractile

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dʰregʰ-“to drag, pull; to run”
2. Latin · derived fromtractus
3. Late Latin · learned borrowing fromtractilis“that can be dragged or pulled”
4. English todaytractile

Learned borrowing from Late Latin tractilis (“that can be dragged or pulled”) + English -ile (suffix meaning ‘capable of; tending to’). Tractilis is derived from Latin tractus + -ilis (suffix forming adjectives from the perfect passive participles of verbs); and tractus is the perfect passive participle of trahō (“to drag, pull; to draw out, extend, lengthen, prolong”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- (“to drag, pull; to run”).

Words from the same roots