Etymograph

English

inter-

Inter- comes from Latin inter ‘between’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁én1‘in’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁entér2‘between’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*n̥ter2‘between’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinter3‘between’
  5. Englishtodayinter-3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin inter
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English inter-

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁énWiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér‘in’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁entérWiktionary, Latin inter‘between’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*n̥terWiktionary, Latin inter‘between’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEinterWiktionary, English inter-‘between’
  5. Englishtodayinter-Wiktionary, English inter-

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₁én ‘in’

in, entrance, indigenous, ensemble, impulse, encounter, intimate, incense, incubation, endo, impel, incubus, dysentery, agog, incubate, intimation, censer, enteral, 34 more

through Latin inter ‘between’

intestine, 11 more

Today it means

prefix A position which is in between two (or more) of the kind indicated by the root.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “inter-”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *h₁entér, Latin inter. 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 *h₁én / inter-

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