Etymograph

English

confluence

Confluence comes from Late Latin cōnfluentia ‘a flowing together, conflux’, from Latin fluō ‘to flow’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to swell, blow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-1‘to swell, blow’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlewH-1‘to overflow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰluH-yé-ti1uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfluō2‘to flow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfluō2‘to flow or run together’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfluēns3
  7. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcōnfluentia3‘a flowing together, conflux’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500confluence3
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1937confluence3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin fluo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin confluens
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English confluence
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1937, An Outline of the Manchoukuo-Soviet Border Controversy: “There has been much controversy especially as to the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₁-Wiktionary, Latin fluo‘to swell, blow’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰlewH-Wiktionary, Latin fluo‘to overflow’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰluH-yé-tiWiktionary, Latin fluouncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfluōWiktionary, Latin confluens‘to flow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfluōWiktionary, Latin confluens‘to flow or run together’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfluēnsWiktionary, English confluence
  7. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEcōnfluentiaWiktionary, English confluence‘a flowing together, conflux’
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500confluenceWiktionary, English confluence
  9. Englishearliest quotation 1937confluenceWiktionary, English confluence. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1937, An Outline of the Manchoukuo-Soviet Border Controversy: “There has been much controversy especially as to the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- ‘to swell, blow’

blow, blast, flavor, bliss, inflation, bladder, feeble, inflate, blithely, blare, blather, bleat, flatulence, 46 more

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰluH-yé-ti

influx, fluidity, 25 more

through Latin fluō ‘to flow’

fluid, influence, flux, fluent, fluctuate, fluctuation, flume, fluorine, fluency, fluvial, fluorite, affluence, fluor, 27 more

Today it means

noun The act of combining that occurs where two rivers meet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “confluence”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin fluo, Latin confluens. 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 *bʰleh₁- / confluence

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