Etymograph

English

annihilation

Annihilation comes from Latin annihilō ‘to bring to nothing, annihilate, obliterate,…’, from hīlum ‘the least bit’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo- ‘sinew’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-1‘sinew’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fī(s)lom1uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīlum2‘thread’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhīlum3‘the least bit’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnihil4‘nothing’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEannihilō5‘to bring to nothing, annihilate, obliterate, destroy utterly, benothing’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEannihilātiō6
  8. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600annihilation6
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1902annihilation6

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin filum
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin hilum
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Latin nihil
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Latin annihilo
  5. 5 Wiktionary, Latin annihilatio
  6. 6 Wiktionary, English annihilation
  7. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1902, William James, Lecture 2: “If you ask how religion thus falls on the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-Wiktionary, Latin filum‘sinew’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fī(s)lomWiktionary, Latin filumuncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīlumWiktionary, Latin hilum‘thread’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhīlumWiktionary, Latin nihil‘the least bit’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnihilWiktionary, Latin annihilo‘nothing’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEannihilōWiktionary, Latin annihilatio‘to bring to nothing, annihilate, obliterate, destroy utterly, benothing’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEannihilātiōWiktionary, English annihilation
  8. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600annihilationWiktionary, English annihilation
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1902annihilationWiktionary, English annihilation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1902, William James, Lecture 2: “If you ask how religion thus falls on the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *fī(s)lom

defile, filamentous, 42 more

through Latin fīlum ‘thread’

file, filament, fillet, 45 more

through Latin nihil ‘nothing’

nihilism, nihilist, nihil, 6 more

Today it means

noun The act of destroying or otherwise turning into nothing, or nonexistence.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “annihilation”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin filum, Latin hilum, Latin nihil, Latin annihilo, Latin annihilatio. 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 *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo- / annihilation

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