Etymograph

English

defluous

Defluous comes from Latin defluere ‘to flow down’, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlewH- ‘to overflow’, and perhaps ultimately from *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 CEfluō2as fluere‘to flow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdefluere2‘to flow down’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdefluus2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1822defluous2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin fluo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English defluous
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1822, Thomas Taylor: “Her most copious and long hairs[…]were softly defluous.”.

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, English defluousas fluere‘to flow’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdefluereWiktionary, English defluous‘to flow down’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdefluusWiktionary, English defluous
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1822defluousWiktionary, English defluous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1822, Thomas Taylor: “Her most copious and long hairs[…]were softly defluous.”

Linked words

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

blow, blast, inflation, flavor, bliss, bladder, feeble, inflate, blithely, flatulence, blare, blather, conflate, bleat, 43 more

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

fluidity, confluent, 23 more

through Latin fluō ‘to flow’

influence, fluid, influx, fluent, flux, confluence, fluctuate, fluency, fluctuation, affluence, flume, fluorine, fluvial, fluorite, fluor, 25 more

Today it means

adj Flowing down; falling off.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “defluous”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin fluo. 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- / defluous

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