Etymograph

English

detriment

Detriment comes from Latin detrimentum ‘loss, damage, literally a rubbing off’, from terō ‘to rub’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-1‘to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterō2as terere‘to rub’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēterere2‘to rub off, wear’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdetrimentum2‘loss, damage, literally a rubbing off’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400detriement2
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1660detriment2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin tero
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English detriment
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1660, Henry More, An Explanation of the grand Mystery of Godliness: “Saturn, Jupiter and Mars from their conjunction to their…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₁-Wiktionary, Latin tero‘to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEterōWiktionary, English detrimentas terere‘to rub’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdēterereWiktionary, English detriment‘to rub off, wear’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdetrimentumWiktionary, English detriment‘loss, damage, literally a rubbing off’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400detriementWiktionary, English detriment
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1660detrimentWiktionary, English detriment. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1660, Henry More, An Explanation of the grand Mystery of Godliness: “Saturn, Jupiter and Mars from their conjunction to their…”

The story

Detriment is related to the word detritus, and built on similar foundations to the word impediment.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- ‘to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn’

turn, throw, thread, tournament, threshold, tragic, trout, tyrone, thrash, tourney, detour, termite, triage, tourniquet, thresher, tyro, thresh, truant, contrite, derma, 41 more

through Latin terō ‘to rub’

attrition, tribulation, trite, 10 more

Today it means

noun Harm, hurt, damage.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “detriment”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin tero. 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 *terh₁- / detriment

Shirt and support for this word