Etymograph

English

ballistic

Ballistic comes from Latin ballista ‘a military siege engine for throwing stones’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-1‘to throw, reach, pierce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*gʷəlnō1reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβᾰ́λλω1bắllō‘to throw, cast, hurl’next step skipped: Ancient Greek βάλλω
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβαλλίστρᾱ1ballístrā‘catapult, engine of war’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEballista1‘a military siege engine for throwing stones’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2026ballistic1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English ballistic
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2026, Jennifer Rankin, Russia hits Kyiv with hypersonic ballistic missile in ‘deran: “Russia used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷelH-Wiktionary, English ballistic‘to throw, reach, pierce’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*gʷəlnōWiktionary, English ballisticreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβᾰ́λλωWiktionary, English ballisticbắllō‘to throw, cast, hurl’next step skipped: Ancient Greek βάλλω
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEβαλλίστρᾱWiktionary, English ballisticballístrā‘catapult, engine of war’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEballistaWiktionary, English ballistic‘a military siege engine for throwing stones’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2026ballisticWiktionary, English ballistic. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2026, Jennifer Rankin, Russia hits Kyiv with hypersonic ballistic missile in ‘deran: “Russia used its powerful hypersonic Oreshnik ballistic missile for…”

Formed from ic

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH- ‘to throw, reach, pierce’

symbolic, ballet, quail, quill, ballad, quell, obelisk, pul, symbolist, 64 more

through Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō

symbol, devil, emblem, metabolic, parable, hyperbolic, parabolic, embolism, anabolic, metabolize, hyperbola, 38 more

Today it means

adj Of or relating to ballistics.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ballistic”. 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 *gʷelH- / ballistic

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