Etymograph

English

hydrocephalus

Hydrocephalus may come from Ancient Greek ὑδροκέφαλον ‘hydrocephalus, water on the brain’, from κεφαλή ‘head’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ- ‘to give’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰebʰ-1‘to give’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰebʰ-l̥2‘head’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʰepʰəlā́2reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκεφαλή3‘head’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὑδροκέφαλον4‘hydrocephalus, water on the brain’uncertain
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2025hydrocephalus4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *gʰébʰōl
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κεφαλή
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ὑδροκέφαλον
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English hydrocephalus
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, Hanna Ziady: “She was born with a condition known as hydrocephalus,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰebʰ-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *gʰébʰōl‘to give’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰebʰ-l̥Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κεφαλή‘head’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*kʰepʰəlā́Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κεφαλήreconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκεφαλήWiktionary, Ancient Greek ὑδροκέφαλον‘head’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEὑδροκέφαλονWiktionary, English hydrocephalus‘hydrocephalus, water on the brain’uncertain
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2025hydrocephalusWiktionary, English hydrocephalus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, Hanna Ziady: “She was born with a condition known as hydrocephalus,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *gʰebʰ- ‘to give’

give, gave, gift, 18 more

through Ancient Greek κεφαλή ‘head’

cephalic, 11 more

Today it means

noun A usually congenital condition in which an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the cerebral ventricles causes enlargement of the skull and compression of the brain, destroying much of the neural tissue.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “hydrocephalus”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *gʰébʰōl, Ancient Greek κεφαλή, Ancient Greek ὑδροκέφαλον. 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 *gʰebʰ- / hydrocephalus

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