Etymograph

English

type

Type comes from Middle English type ‘symbol, figure, emblem’, from Ancient Greek τύπος ‘mark, impression, type’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- ‘to push, beat’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewp-‘to push’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτύπτωtúptō‘to strike’
  3. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEτύποςtúpos‘mark’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtypus
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500type‘symbol’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1847type

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)tewp-‘to push’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτύπτωtúptō‘to strike’
  3. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEτύποςtúpos‘mark’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtypus
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500type‘symbol’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1847type

Earliest quotation: 1847, Alfred Tennyson, (please specify the page number, or |part=Prologue, I to VII: “Let us type them now in our own lives.”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- ‘to push, beat’

stop, stuff, steep, stubborn, stub, timbre, stupendous, tympanum, 18 more

through Ancient Greek τύπτω ‘to strike, beat’

timpani, 1 more

through Latin typus

typical

Today it means

noun A grouping based on shared characteristics; a class.

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

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp- / type

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