English
carnivora
Carnivora comes from Latin carnivorus ‘feeding on flesh, carnivorous, meat-eating’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut off, sever’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*karō‘meat’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcarō‘meat, flesh’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcarnivorusas carnivora‘feeding on flesh, carnivorous, meat-eating’
- Englishearliest quotation 1859carnivora
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ker-‘to cut off, sever’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*karō‘meat’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcarō‘meat, flesh’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcarnivorusas carnivora‘feeding on flesh, carnivorous, meat-eating’
- Englishearliest quotation 1859carnivora
Earliest quotation: 1859, Charles Darwin, Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology:: “Naturalists try to arrange the species, genera, and families…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- ‘to cut off, sever’
across, short, cross, share, screen, cancer, score, shirt, circle, circuit, crucial, curve, circus, circulation, skirt, curb, scrutiny, shrine, scare, crest, cancellation, circa, scar, shred, corona, scorpion, shear, circulate, shrewd, crux, raffle, incarceration, corolla, cirque, riddance, crepe, carcinoma, shard, ruck, shrew, 114 more
through Latin carō ‘meat, flesh’
card, incarnation, carnage, incarnate, carnal, carrion, carnation, 13 more
Today it means
noun Carnivorans.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- / carnivora