Etymograph

English

contiguous

Contiguous comes from Latin contiguus ‘touching’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-1‘to touch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tangō1‘to touch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtangō1‘to touch, grasp’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontingō1‘touch on the sides, border’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontiguus2‘touching’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1835contiguous2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin contiguus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English contiguous
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1835, William Scoresby, Memorials of the Sea: “[…] the usual quietness of the day, with us,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*teh₂g-Wiktionary, Latin contiguus‘to touch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*tangōWiktionary, Latin contiguus‘to touch’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtangōWiktionary, Latin contiguus‘to touch, grasp’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontingōWiktionary, Latin contiguus‘touch on the sides, border’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcontiguusWiktionary, English contiguous‘touching’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1835contiguousWiktionary, English contiguous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1835, William Scoresby, Memorials of the Sea: “[…] the usual quietness of the day, with us,…”

Formed from -ous

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- ‘to touch’

taste, integrity, attain, integrate, taxis, taxonomy, tama, talon, contagion, ataxia, contaminate, tactician, talus, thwack, 28 more

through Proto-Italic *tangō ‘to touch’

intangible, tactile, 8 more

through Latin tangō ‘to touch, grasp’

tangible, tame, contingent, tact, tangent, 10 more

through Latin contingō ‘touch on the sides, border’

contact, 3 more

Today it means

adj Connected; touching; abutting.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “contiguous”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin contiguus. 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 *teh₂g- / contiguous

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