Etymograph

English

labialize

Labialize comes from Latin labium ‘lip’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leb- ‘to hang loosely’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leb-1‘to hang loosely’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*l̥b-yóm1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*labjom1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElabium2‘lip’
  5. Englishtodaylabialize2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin labium
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English labialize

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leb-Wiktionary, Latin labium‘to hang loosely’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*l̥b-yómWiktionary, Latin labiumreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*labjomWiktionary, Latin labiumreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CElabiumWiktionary, English labialize‘lip’
  5. EnglishtodaylabializeWiktionary, English labialize

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *leb- ‘to hang loosely’

label, lap, lip, lobe, limp, limbo, lave, labrum, 14 more

through Latin labium ‘lip’

la, 6 more

Today it means

verb To round, make (a sound, notably a consonant) labial.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “labialize”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin labium. 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 *leb- / labialize

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