Etymograph

English

cambion

Cambion comes from Late Latin cambio ‘I exchange’, from Gaulish cambion ‘bent, crooked’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱh₂mbós.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ḱh₂mbós1uncertain
  2. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*kambos1‘twisted, crooked’reconstructed
  3. Gaulishc. 500 BCE–500 CEcambion1‘bent, crooked’yo-stem derivative of *kambos
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcambium2‘exchange’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcambio3‘I exchange’
  6. Englishtodaycambion3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin cambium
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin cambio
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English cambion

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)ḱh₂mbósWiktionary, Latin cambiumuncertain
  2. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*kambosWiktionary, Latin cambium‘twisted, crooked’reconstructed
  3. Gaulishc. 500 BCE–500 CEcambionWiktionary, Latin cambium‘bent, crooked’yo-stem derivative of *kambos
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcambiumWiktionary, Latin cambio‘exchange’
  5. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcambioWiktionary, English cambion‘I exchange’
  6. EnglishtodaycambionWiktionary, English cambion

Linked words

through Proto-Celtic *kambos ‘twisted, crooked’

kam, 7 more

through Gaulish cambion ‘bent, crooked’

changer, unchangeable, 2 more

through Latin cambium ‘exchange’

exchange, changeable, 3 more

through Late Latin cambio ‘I exchange’

change, 4 more

Today it means

noun The half-demon offspring of either an incubus and a female human or a succubus and a male human.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cambion”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin cambium, Latin cambio. 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 *(s)ḱh₂mbós / cambion

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