Etymograph

English

amplexus

Amplexus comes from Latin amplexus ‘embrace’, and goes back to plecto.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplecto
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEamplector‘to embrace, hug, clasp or grasp’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEamplexus‘embrace’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2014same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history not traced here.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplecto
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEamplector‘to embrace, hug, clasp or grasp’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEamplexus‘embrace’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2014same form

Earliest quotation: 2014, Elizabeth Kolbert: “Finally, we came upon a pair of Panamanian robber…”

Linked words

through Latin plecto

complex, plait, 8 more

Today it means

noun A form of pseudocopulation, found chiefly in amphibians and horseshoe crabs, in which a male grasps a female with his front legs as part of the mating process.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin plecto / amplexus

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