Etymograph

English

apocrine

Apocrine comes from Ancient Greek κρῑ́νω ‘to separate’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *krey-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-‘to sift, separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kri-n-yé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kríňňōreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκρῑ́νωkrī́nō‘to separate’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2001apocrine

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-‘to sift, separate’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*kri-n-yé-tireconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kríňňōreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκρῑ́νωkrī́nō‘to separate’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2001apocrine

Earliest quotation: 2001, Paul Peter Rosen, Rosen's Breast Pathology: “They observed that apocrine metaplasia often was present in…”

Formed from apo- ‘away from’

Proto-Indo-European *h₂epo ‘off, away’

English apo-

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sift, separate’

certain, secretary, secret, crime, criminal, crisis, discrimination, discretion, critic, discrete, discreet, riddle, discern, criterion, discriminate, excrement, excretion, endocrine, rime, incriminate, excrete, certitude, ridder, incrimination, recrimination, 45 more

through Ancient Greek κρῑ́νω ‘to separate’

critique, criticize, hypocrite, criterium, 7 more

Today it means

adj Of or pertaining to an apocrine gland or to its mode of secretion, which involves the budding of portions of the secreting cells.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *krey- / apocrine

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