English
cellula
Cellula comes from Latin cellula ‘small room, especially that of a slave’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ‘to cover’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱel-1‘to cover’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcella1‘a small room, a hut, storeroom’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcellula1‘small room, especially that of a slave’
- Englishtodaycellula1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English cellula
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱel-Wiktionary, English cellula‘to cover’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcellaWiktionary, English cellula‘a small room, a hut, storeroom’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcellulaWiktionary, English cellula‘small room, especially that of a slave’
- EnglishtodaycellulaWiktionary, English cellula
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- ‘to cover’
color, hole, hall, hell, holder, ceiling, halt, helmet, hollow, holden, hull, uphold, helm, conceal, occult, clandestine, sari, cilia, sala, recline, declination, declension, tricolour, holing, haugh, halberd, seel, hele, 35 more
through Latin cella ‘a small room, a hut, storeroom’
Today it means
noun A small compartment or chamber.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “cellula”. 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 *ḱel- / cellula