English
homophene
Homophene comes from Ancient Greek φαίνω ‘to shine, to show, to appear’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-1‘to shine’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰh₂-n-yé-ti1reconstructedthematic yé-present of *bʰeh₂-
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰáňňō1‘to appear’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφαίνω2phaínō‘to shine, to show, to appear’
- Englishtodayhomophene2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek φαίνω
- 2 Wiktionary, English homophene
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek φαίνω‘to shine’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰh₂-n-yé-tiWiktionary, Ancient Greek φαίνωreconstructedthematic yé-present of *bʰeh₂-
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰáňňōWiktionary, Ancient Greek φαίνω‘to appear’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφαίνωWiktionary, English homophenephaínō‘to shine, to show, to appear’
- EnglishtodayhomopheneWiktionary, English homophene
Formed from homo-
Proto-Indo-European *sem- ‘one, whole’
Proto-Indo-European *somHós ‘same, alike’
Proto-Hellenic *homós
Ancient Greek ὁμός ‘same’
English homo-
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine’
focus, professor, fuel, phone, famous, favor, favourite, ban, ben, fate, fame, profession, fatal, bee, fairy, fabulous, abandon, infant, confession, photographer, confess, beacon, beck, boon, symphony, eff, fab, fay, fable, foyer, banish, bane, buoy, profess, banal, infamy, nefarious, prophetic, bene, beek, 115 more
through Proto-Hellenic *pʰáňňō ‘to appear’
through Ancient Greek φαίνω ‘to shine, to show, to appear’
fantasy, fancy, emphasis, phenomenon, phantom, epiphany, fantasia, tryptophan, phenomenology, phantasm, phenol, phenomenally, phenom, 40 more
Today it means
noun Any of a set of words that sound different, but look identical on a person's lips, so that they cannot be distinguished by lipreading.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “homophene”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek φαίνω. 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- / homophene