Etymograph

English

altimetre

Altimetre comes from Latin altus ‘high’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- ‘grow, nourish’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂el-1‘grow, nourish’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eltós1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*altos1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaltus2‘high’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1919altimetre2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin altus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English altimetre
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1919, W. Crispin Sheppard: “To fire this stationary weapon the pilot would have…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂el-Wiktionary, Latin altus‘grow, nourish’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eltósWiktionary, Latin altusreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*altosWiktionary, Latin altusreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaltusWiktionary, English altimetre‘high’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1919altimetreWiktionary, English altimetre. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1919, W. Crispin Sheppard: “To fire this stationary weapon the pilot would have…”

Formed from metre

Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- ‘to measure’

Ancient Greek μέτρον ‘measure, rule, length, size, poetic metre’

Latin metrum

French mètre ‘metre/meter’

English metre

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- ‘grow, nourish’

as, all, else, adult, el, element, alien, ellen, ultimate, ultra, alternate, ou, alumni, outrage, alter, qualification, adolescent, abolish, alpine, alias, alum, alibi, proletariat, alp, alimony, ulterior, parallax, retaliate, coalesce, altruism, aad, foetal, althea, withal, 63 more

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eltós

old, elder, auld, eld, 14 more

through Latin altus ‘high’

altitude, altar, alt, alto, haughty, haut, exalt, 13 more

Today it means

noun —

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “altimetre”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin altus. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- / altimetre

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