English
culmination
Culmination comes from French culmination.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentculmination
- Englishearliest quotation 2026same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentculmination
- Englishearliest quotation 2026same form
Earliest quotation: 2026, Nicholas Muhoro: “The culmination of this lead happened in 1998 when…”
Formed from culminate + -ion
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *kelH- ‘to rise, be tall’
hill, excellent, colonel, excellence, hale, excellency, excelsior, holm, 8 more
through Proto-Italic *kolamen
through Latin culmen ‘stalk’
Today it means
noun The attainment of the highest point of altitude reached by a heavenly body; passage across the meridian; transit.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French culmination / culmination