Etymograph

English

greenmail

Blend of greenback + blackmail.

A blend of greenback + blackmail

Proto-Indo-European *med- ‘to measure’

English mail ‘a piece of money’

English blackmail

Today it means

noun The profiting from an attempted hostile takeover by forcing the target company to buy back the hostile bidder's shares at an inflated price.

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

Etymograph / greenmail