Etymograph

English

cestus

Cestus comes from Latin caestus ‘a type of boxing glove made from a strap of…’, from caedo ‘to cut’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-1‘to cut, hew’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂éydeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaidō1‘to cut, hew, fell’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaedo2‘to cut’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaestus3‘a type of boxing glove made from a strap of bull's hide loaded with iron or lead balls’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1994cestus3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin caedo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin caestus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English cestus
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1994, Carl Brown: “It is against Massachusetts law to carry on your…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂eyd-Wiktionary, Latin caedo‘to cut, hew’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kh₂éydetiWiktionary, Latin caedoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kaidōWiktionary, Latin caedo‘to cut, hew, fell’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaedoWiktionary, Latin caestus‘to cut’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcaestusWiktionary, English cestus‘a type of boxing glove made from a strap of bull's hide loaded with iron or lead balls’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1994cestusWiktionary, English cestus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1994, Carl Brown: “It is against Massachusetts law to carry on your…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- ‘to cut, hew’

hit, 25 more

through Proto-Italic *kaidō ‘to cut, hew, fell’

scissors, 23 more

through Latin caedo ‘to cut’

decision, precise, cement, concise, circumcision, incision, chisel, scissor, incisive, excision, incisor, caesium, 24 more

Today it means

noun A leather fighting glove, frequently weighted with metal.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cestus”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin caedo, Latin caestus. 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 *kh₂eyd- / cestus

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