Etymograph

English

inflection

Inflection comes from Latin inflexio ‘alteration’, from īnflectō ‘to bend, curve, bow’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃enh₂-root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflectō‘to bend, curve or bow’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnflectō‘to bend, curve, bow’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinflexioas inflexiōnem‘alteration’literally ‘bending’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inflexion
  6. Englishtodayinflection

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃enh₂-root as named
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEflectō‘to bend, curve or bow’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEīnflectō‘to bend, curve, bow’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEinflexioas inflexiōnem‘alteration’literally ‘bending’
  5. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600inflexion
  6. Englishtodayinflection

The story

From older inflexion, borrowed from Middle French inflexion, itself borrowed from Latin inflexiōnem (“alteration”, literally “bending”). The English spelling with ⟨ct⟩ is due to influence from inflect or related words like correction.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂-

centurion

through Latin flectō ‘to bend, curve or bow’

flexible, flexibility, reflect, flex, deflect, 12 more

Today it means

noun The linguistic phenomenon of morphological variation, whereby words take a number of distinct forms in order to express different grammatical features.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂- / inflection

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