Etymograph

English

iamb

Iamb comes from Latin ïambus ‘iamb, iambus’, and goes back to Ancient Greek ἴαμβος.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἴαμβος1íambos‘iamb, a metrical foot’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEïambus1‘iamb, iambus’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentiambe1
  4. Englishtodayiamb1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English iamb

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἴαμβοςWiktionary, English iambíambos‘iamb, a metrical foot’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEïambusWiktionary, English iamb‘iamb, iambus’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentiambeWiktionary, English iamb
  4. EnglishtodayiambWiktionary, English iamb

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- ‘to throw’

year, project, hour, disease, object, ease, jet, adjacent, injection, jess, trajectory, inject, conjecture, gist, ejection, jetty, abject, eject, ejaculation, ejaculate, jettison, jut, subjection, interject, joist, jetsam, 42 more

through Ancient Greek ἵημι ‘to send, throw’

catheter, enema, 9 more

Today it means

noun A metrical foot in verse consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “iamb”. 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 / Ancient Greek ἴαμβος / iamb

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