Etymology

vocal

vo·cal
V4O1C3A1L1

Today it means: Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech. Full definition →

Middle English vocal ← Latin vōcālis ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*wekʷ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*wṓkʷs
  3. Proto-Italic*wōks
  4. Latinvōx
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  7. Latinvōcālis
  8. Middle Englishvocal
  9. English todayvocal

Late Middle English vocal, borrowed from Latin vōcālis (“uttering a voice, sounding, speaking”), from vōx (“a voice, sound, tone”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of vowel and vocalis. Compare Old French vocal.

Words from the same roots

Latinvōcālis all →

vowelvocalis

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.