Etymograph

English

famous

Famous comes from Latin fāmōsus ‘famed, celebrated, noted, renowned, famous’, from fāma ‘fame’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to speak’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-1‘to speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéh₂meh₂1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fāmā1‘something said about another’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfāma2‘fame’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfāmōsus3‘famed’
  6. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400famous3
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500famous3
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588famous3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin fama
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin famosus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English famous
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “By this my ſword that conquer’d Perſea, Thy fall…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-Wiktionary, Latin fama‘to speak’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéh₂meh₂Wiktionary, Latin famareconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fāmāWiktionary, Latin fama‘something said about another’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfāmaWiktionary, Latin famosus‘fame’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfāmōsusWiktionary, English famous‘famed’
  6. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400famousWiktionary, English famous
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500famousWiktionary, English famous
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1587–1588famousWiktionary, English famous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1587–1588, Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […]: “By this my ſword that conquer’d Perſea, Thy fall…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with famous, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to speak’

  • phone ← telephone ← téléphone ← φωνή ← *pʰōnā́
  • professor ← proffessur ← profiteor ← fateor ← *fatēōr
  • focus
  • fuel ← fuayle ← fouaille ← focus
  • ben ← *bōni ← *bōniz
  • phase ← phasis ← φάσις ← φᾰ(ν)- ← *pʰáňňō
  • ban ← bannen ← bannan ← *bannan ← *bannaną
  • favor ← favour ← favour ← faveō ← *bʰeh₂weh₁yeti
  • fantasy ← fantasie ← fantasie ← phantasia ← φαντασία
  • photographer ← φωτός ← φῶς ← φᾰ́ος ← *pʰáwos
  • favourite ← favorit ← favorit ← favorire ← favore
  • emphasis ← ἔμφασις ← ἐμφαίνω ← φαίνω ← *pʰáňňō

164 more relatives in the full family tree

No ads, ever.

Become a founding member, $29 onceI have a code

Explore everything descended from *bʰeh₂- →

No ads, ever. This is how the app stays alive.

Become a founding member, $29 onceWear this word, $32Support the app

Today it means

adj Well known.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “famous”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin fama, Latin famosus. 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 *bʰeh₂- / famous