English
monad
Monad comes from Latin monas ‘unit’, from Ancient Greek μονάς ‘alone, solitary, isolated’, and ultimately from μόνος.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμόνος‘alone, forsaken, solitary’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEμονάςmonás‘alone, solitary, isolated’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmonas‘unit’
- Englishearliest quotation 1787monad
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμόνος‘alone, forsaken, solitary’
- Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEμονάςmonás‘alone, solitary, isolated’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmonas‘unit’
- Englishearliest quotation 1787monad
Earliest quotation: 1787, Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason: “Hence Leibnitz, who looked upon things as noumena, after…”
Equivalent to mono- + -ad
Proto-Indo-European *men-
Proto-Hellenic *mónwos
Ancient Greek μόνος ‘alone, only, sole, single’
English mono-
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to think, mind’
music, mind, money, comment, amount, mental, remain, museum, permanent, mouth, mountain, mention, auto, min, mount, monster, mentor, mint, monitor, maya, dementia, demonstration, imminent, monetary, amnesty, muse, eminent, ming, prominence, mas, mandarin, mantra, monument, mania, muster, amnesia, manic, mosaic, menace, eminence, 125 more
through Ancient Greek μόνος ‘alone, forsaken, solitary’
monk, munch, monastery, minster, monochromatic, monolith, monism, 14 more
Today it means
noun One thing, one being, one item.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek μόνος / monad