Etymograph

English

cymatograph

Cymatograph comes from Latin cȳma ‘sprout, swelling, hollow sphere’, from Ancient Greek κύω ‘to be pregnant, I conceive’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- ‘to swell’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱewh₁-1‘to swell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱuh₁éyeti1reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκύω2kúō‘to be pregnant, I conceive’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκῦμα2‘swell, wave, billow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcȳma3‘sprout, swelling, hollow sphere’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1885cymatograph3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κύω
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin cyma
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English cymatograph
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1885, Nature, XXXII: “Prof. S. P. Thompson…had also lent for exhibition…a “cymatograph”…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱewh₁-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κύω‘to swell’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱuh₁éyetiWiktionary, Ancient Greek κύωreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκύωWiktionary, Latin cymakúō‘to be pregnant, I conceive’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκῦμαWiktionary, Latin cyma‘swell, wave, billow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcȳmaWiktionary, English cymatograph‘sprout, swelling, hollow sphere’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1885cymatographWiktionary, English cymatograph. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1885, Nature, XXXII: “Prof. S. P. Thompson…had also lent for exhibition…a “cymatograph”…”

Formed from -o- + -graph

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- ‘to swell’

church, jail, cave, cage, kirk, cavity, hound, excavation, gaol, cumulus, excavate, cajole, caul, cavil, 40 more

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh₁éyeti

cyst, 12 more

Today it means

noun An instrument for compounding the resultant of two parallel, simple, harmonic waves.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cymatograph”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek κύω, Latin cyma. 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 *ḱewh₁- / cymatograph

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