English
cardiogram
Cardiogram comes from Ancient Greek γρᾰ́φω ‘to scratch, cut into’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-1‘to carve’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*grə́pʰō1‘to scratch, cut or carve into’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEγρᾰ́φω1grắphō‘to scratch, cut into’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEγράμμα1grámma
- Englishtodaycardiogram1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English cardiogram
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gerbʰ-Wiktionary, English cardiogram‘to carve’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*grə́pʰōWiktionary, English cardiogram‘to scratch, cut or carve into’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEγρᾰ́φωWiktionary, English cardiogramgrắphō‘to scratch, cut into’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEγράμμαWiktionary, English cardiogramgrámma
- EnglishtodaycardiogramWiktionary, English cardiogram
A compound of cardio- + -gram
Proto-Indo-European *ḱerd- ‘heart’
Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr ‘heart’
Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥díyeh₂
Proto-Hellenic *kərdíyā
Ancient Greek καρδία ‘heart’
English cardio-
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- ‘to carve’
crawl, crab, grammar, carve, crawfish, astrophotography, 79 more
through Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō ‘to scratch, cut or carve into’
photo, cinema, graphic, graphite, graphene, epigram, 73 more
through Ancient Greek γρᾰ́φω ‘to scratch, cut into’
photography, graffiti, graft, demography, ultrasonography, epigraph, sonography, 40 more
through Ancient Greek γράμμα
Today it means
noun The visual output an electrocardiograph produces
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “cardiogram”. 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 *gerbʰ- / cardiogram