unix

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European*mel-
2. Proto-Indo-European*ml̥tós?
3. Proto-Italic*moltos
4. Latinmulti-
5. Proto-Indo-European*pel-der.?
6. Latinmultiplex
7. Englishmultiplexed
8. Proto-Indo-European*h₁én
9. Proto-Italic*en
10. Proto-Italic*en-
11. Latinin-
12. Ancient Greekμορφή (morphḗ)der.?
13. Latinfōrma
14. Latinfōrmō
15. Latinīnfōrmō
16. Late Latinīnfōrmātiō
17. Middle Englishenformacioun
18. Englishinformation
19. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
20. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
21. Proto-Italic*kom
22. Proto-Italic*kom-
23. Latincon-
24. Latinputus
25. Latinputō
26. Latincomputō
27. Latincomputāre
28. Frenchcomputer
29. Englishcomputing
30. Proto-Indo-European*ser-der.?
31. Proto-Italic*serwos
32. Latinservus
33. Latinservitium
34. Old Frenchservise
35. Old Englishserfis
36. Middle Englishservise
37. Englishservice
38. EnglishMultiplexed Information and Computing Service
39. EnglishMultics
40. Englisheunuchinflu.
41. English todayUnix

A pun on Multics to sound like eunuchs, as Unix was considered to be an emasculated Multics (see multi- and uni-). Likely coined by Canadian computer scientist Brian Kernighan in 1970.