English
apex
Apex comes from Latin apex ‘point, tip, summit’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- ‘water’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ep-‘water’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*apeksreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEapex‘point, tip, summit’
- Englishearliest quotation 1951apex
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂ep-‘water’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*apeksreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEapex‘point, tip, summit’
- Englishearliest quotation 1951apex
Earliest quotation: 1951, J. H. Lehmann, Cardiac Catheterization—A Diagnostic Aid in Congenital Heart: “B.P. 118/68. Grade I diastolic murmur best heard over…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- ‘water’
Today it means
noun The highest or the greatest part of something, especially forming a point.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- / apex