English
homophora
Homophora comes from Ancient Greek φέρω ‘to carry’, from Proto-Hellenic *pʰérō ‘to bear’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-1‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéreti2‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰérō2‘to bear’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφέρω3phérō‘to carry’
- Englishtodayhomophora3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti
- 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek φέρω
- 3 Wiktionary, English homophora
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰer-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti‘to bear, carry’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰéretiWiktionary, Ancient Greek φέρω‘to be carrying’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*pʰérōWiktionary, Ancient Greek φέρω‘to bear’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEφέρωWiktionary, English homophoraphérō‘to carry’
- EnglishtodayhomophoraWiktionary, English homophora
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- ‘to bear, carry’
bar, birth, prefer, broad, suffering, bread, burden, differently, bearing, barrel, fortune, barn, fury, baron, breeze, bark, bore, differentiation, berth, indifferent, barrow, embargo, fret, broom, infertility, ferret, deference, infertile, insufferable, differentially, furtive, bier, deferential, differentiable, bahar, proffer, birr, barrette, differentiator, bairn, 113 more
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti ‘to be carrying’
different, offer, difference, reference, bear, transfer, relative, suffer, relation, translation, relate, extraordinary, differ, referendum, referee, frustration, fertility, translate, fertile, strangely, borne, extravagant, defer, confer, infer, fertilization, elated, frustrate, ablation, elation, infra, extraneous, collation, fertilize, strangeness, dilate, collate, ablative, efferent, oblate, 102 more
through Ancient Greek φέρω ‘to carry’
phosphate, phosphorus, euphoria, dysphoria, semaphore, phosphine, 22 more
Today it means
noun A reference that requires some type of general knowledge to understand.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “homophora”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti, Ancient Greek φέρω. 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 *bʰer- / homophora