Etymograph

English

emaciate

Emaciate comes from Latin ēmaciō ‘to make lean, to cause to waste away’, from maciēs ‘leanness’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂ḱ- ‘to raise, increase’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₂ḱ-1‘to raise, increase’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mh₂ḱrós1‘lean, meager’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*makros1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmacer2‘thin’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmaciēs2‘leanness’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmaciō2‘to make lean, to cause to waste away’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmaciātus2perfect passive participle of ēmaciō
  8. Englishtodayemaciate2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin macer
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English emaciate

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meh₂ḱ-Wiktionary, Latin macer‘to raise, increase’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mh₂ḱrósWiktionary, Latin macer‘lean, meager’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*makrosWiktionary, Latin macerreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmacerWiktionary, English emaciate‘thin’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmaciēsWiktionary, English emaciate‘leanness’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmaciōWiktionary, English emaciate‘to make lean, to cause to waste away’
  7. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEēmaciātusWiktionary, English emaciateperfect passive participle of ēmaciō
  8. EnglishtodayemaciateWiktionary, English emaciate

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *meh₂ḱ- ‘to raise, increase’

machete, macron, 12 more

through Proto-Indo-European *mh₂ḱrós ‘lean, meager’

macro, 6 more

through Latin macer ‘thin’

meager, meagre, 1 more

Today it means

verb To make extremely thin or wasted.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “emaciate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin macer. 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 *meh₂ḱ- / emaciate

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