English
annihilation
Annihilation comes from Latin annihilō ‘to bring to nothing, annihilate, obliterate,…’, and goes back to hīlum ‘the least bit’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhīlum‘the least bit’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnihil‘nothing’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEannihilō‘to bring to nothing, annihilate, obliterate, destroy utterly, benothing’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEannihilātiō
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600annihilation
- Englishearliest quotation 1902same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhīlum‘the least bit’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnihil‘nothing’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEannihilō‘to bring to nothing, annihilate, obliterate, destroy utterly, benothing’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEannihilātiō
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600annihilation
- Englishearliest quotation 1902same form
Earliest quotation: 1902, William James, Lecture 2: “If you ask how religion thus falls on the…”
Equivalent to annihilate + -ion
Latin hīlum ‘the least bit’
Latin nihil ‘nothing’
Latin annihilō ‘to reduce to nothing’
Latin annihilātus ‘destroyed’
English annihilate
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *fī(s)lom
through Latin fīlum ‘thread’
file, filament, fillet, 45 more
through Latin nihil ‘nothing’
Today it means
noun The act of destroying or otherwise turning into nothing, or nonexistence.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin hīlum / annihilation