Etymograph

English

discriminous

Discriminous comes from Latin discrimen ‘the dangerous, decisive moment’, from discernō ‘to set apart, differentiate, decide’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sift, separate, divide’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-1‘to sift, separate, divide’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krinō1‘to sift, separate’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcernō1‘to distinguish, divide, separate, sift’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscernō1‘to set apart, differentiate, decide’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscrimen2‘the dangerous, decisive moment’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscriminosus2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1672discriminous2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin discrimen
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English discriminous
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus: “diſcerning the diſcriminous ſtate of Perdiccas King of Macedonia”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krey-Wiktionary, Latin discrimen‘to sift, separate, divide’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*krinōWiktionary, Latin discrimen‘to sift, separate’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcernōWiktionary, Latin discrimen‘to distinguish, divide, separate, sift’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscernōWiktionary, Latin discrimen‘to set apart, differentiate, decide’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscrimenWiktionary, English discriminous‘the dangerous, decisive moment’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEdiscriminosusWiktionary, English discriminous
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1672discriminousWiktionary, English discriminous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1672, Gideon Harvey, Morbus Anglicus: “diſcerning the diſcriminous ſtate of Perdiccas King of Macedonia”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *krey- ‘to sift, separate, divide’

certain, secret, crime, crisis, criminal, critic, critique, riddle, criterion, hypocrite, endocrine, discernible, discernment, excrete, rime, ridder, certitude, incriminate, criterium, incrimination, recrimination, 44 more

through Latin cernō ‘to distinguish, divide, separate, sift’

secretary, secretion, discern, excrement, secrete, excretion, 10 more

through Latin discernō ‘to set apart, differentiate, decide’

discretion, 4 more

Today it means

adj hazardous; dangerous

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “discriminous”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin discrimen. 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 *krey- / discriminous

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