English
fibre
Fibre comes from Latin fibra ‘fibre, filament’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfibra‘fibre, filament’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400fibre
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form
- Englishearliest quotation 1892same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfibra‘fibre, filament’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400fibre
- Frenchc. 1600–presentsame form
- Englishearliest quotation 1892same form
Earliest quotation: 1892, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Claus: “It is the deeper parts of such cells which…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- ‘to split’
bet, boat, bite, bitter, bait, fission, feta, abet, fissure, fissile, fettuccine, 25 more
through French fibre
Today it means
noun A single piece of a given material, elongated and roughly round in cross-section, often twisted with other fibres to form thread.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin fibra / fibre