Meanings
adjectivequasi-etymological (not comparable)
- not comparableBased on faulty etymological grounds or reasoning; employing the techniques of etymology but not in a rigorous, scholarly, or accurate manner.
There was argument, public, private, and bar-parlor, with heated championship of one term or another on near-scientific, quasi-etymological, and a number of other grounds, but gradually one term began to dominate this philological gymkhana.
1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 41
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷ-
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷís
- Proto-Italic*kʷis
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷ-
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷos
- Proto-Italic*kʷoi
- Latinquam
- Proto-Indo-European*só
- Proto-Italic*sei
- Latinsī
- Latinquasī̆
- Englishquasi-
- Proto-Indo-European*set-?
- Ancient Greekἐτεός (eteós)der.?
- Ancient Greekἔτυμος (étumos)
- Proto-Indo-European*leǵ-
- Proto-Indo-European*lóǵos
- Proto-Hellenic*lógos
- Ancient Greekλόγος (lógos)
- Ancient Greekἐτῠμόλογος (etŭmólogos)
- Ancient Greekἐτῠμολογῐ́ᾱ (etŭmologĭ́ā)
- Latinetymologia
- Old Frenchethimologie
- Middle Englishethymologie
- Englishetymology
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
- Englishetymological
- Englishquasi-etymological
From quasi- + etymological.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
quasi-etymological. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quasi-etymological
MLA
“quasi-etymological.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quasi-etymological. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “quasi-etymological,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quasi-etymological.
Source: quasi-etymological on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.