Etymograph

English

infix

Infix comes from Latin infixus ‘fastened, fixed, implanted’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- ‘to plant’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeygʷ-1‘to plant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feigʷō1‘to fasten’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīvō1‘Old Latin form of fīgō (“to fasten”)’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīgō1‘to fasten, fix’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinfigō2‘to fasten in’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinfixus2‘fastened, fixed, implanted’past participle of infigō
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500infixed2‘stuck in’
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596infix2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin infigo
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English infix
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King Iohn: “[…] in her eye I find A wonder, or…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰeygʷ-Wiktionary, Latin infigo‘to plant’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*feigʷōWiktionary, Latin infigo‘to fasten’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīvōWiktionary, Latin infigo‘Old Latin form of fīgō (“to fasten”)’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīgōWiktionary, Latin infigo‘to fasten, fix’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinfigōWiktionary, English infix‘to fasten in’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinfixusWiktionary, English infix‘fastened, fixed, implanted’past participle of infigō
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500infixedWiktionary, English infix‘stuck in’
  8. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596infixWiktionary, English infix. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King Iohn: “[…] in her eye I find A wonder, or…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- ‘to plant’

final, fine, finish, dig, definition, ditch, infinite, dyke, finite, infinity, fin, dike, financier, infinitive, finis, fino, finial, 22 more

through Latin fīvō ‘Old Latin form of fīgō (“to fasten”)’

fibula, 8 more

through Latin fīgō ‘to fasten, fix’

fix, crucify, suffix, 13 more

Today it means

verb To set; to fasten or fix by piercing or thrusting in.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “infix”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin infigo. 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 *dʰeygʷ- / infix

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