Etymograph

English

reniform

Reniform comes from Latin rēn ‘kidney’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErēnas rēnis‘kidney’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1751reniform

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CErēnas rēnis‘kidney’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1751reniform

Earliest quotation: 1751, John Hill, Having Corollæ Divided into Three Segments: “[T]he antheræ are reniform: the germen is oval, and…”

The story

Learned borrowing from Latin rēnis (the genitive singular of rēn (‘kidney’); see further at that entry) + English -form (suffix meaning ‘having the form or shape of’), modelled after New Latin rēnifōrmis (‘of seeds: kidney-shaped’).

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *hrēn

adrenal, 2 more

through Latin rēn ‘kidney’

rein, renal, ren, 4 more

Today it means

adj Synonym of kidney-shaped (“having an approximately circular or elongated ovoid shape with an inward curve or indentation on one side”).

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

Etymograph / Latin rēn / reniform

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