Etymograph

English

bipennis

Bipennis comes from Latin bipennis ‘two-winged’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dwi-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dwi-1‘two-’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwi-1‘two, bi-, di-’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbipennis2‘two-winged’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1937bipennis2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin bi-
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English bipennis
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1937, Starnes, Bilingual Dictionaries of Shakespeare’s Day: “Bipennis... A twibill, axe, or twall, sharpe on both…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dwi-Wiktionary, Latin bi-‘two-’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*dwi-Wiktionary, Latin bi-‘two, bi-, di-’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEbipennisWiktionary, English bipennis‘two-winged’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1937bipennisWiktionary, English bipennis. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1937, Starnes, Bilingual Dictionaries of Shakespeare’s Day: “Bipennis... A twibill, axe, or twall, sharpe on both…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dwi- ‘two-’

with, double, 22 more

through Latin bipennis ‘two-winged’

pimpernel

Today it means

noun An axe with an edge or blade on each side of the handle.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bipennis”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin bi-. 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 *dwi- / bipennis

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