English
logos
Logos comes from Ancient Greek λόγος ‘speech, oration, discourse, quote, story,…’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-1‘to collect (words)’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógos1reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγος2lógos‘speech, oration, discourse, quote, story, study, ratio, word, calculation, reason’
- Englishtodaylogos2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek λόγος
- 2 Wiktionary, English logos
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*leǵ-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek λόγος‘to collect (words)’reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*lógosWiktionary, Ancient Greek λόγοςreconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEλόγοςWiktionary, English logoslógos‘speech, oration, discourse, quote, story, study, ratio, word, calculation, reason’
- EnglishtodaylogosWiktionary, English logos
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- ‘to collect (words)’
election, collection, technology, lesson, select, elite, collect, eligible, elect, elegant, legion, coil, negligence, catalogue, negligible, negligent, leach, diligent, lexicon, astrology, lexical, cull, epilogue, dialectic, legation, alexia, lignite, gynecologist, lexis, lignin, cosmology, ineligibility, dialogic, 149 more
through Proto-Hellenic *lógos
archaeological, pathological, etymology, astrological, pathophysiology, homologous, psychopathology, neurophysiology, histopathology, bacteriological, 101 more
through Ancient Greek λόγος ‘speech, oration, discourse, quote, story,…’
logic, apology, sociology, trilogy, terminology, physiology, analogy, pathology, monologue, archaeologist, pathologist, prologue, logistic, epistemology, eulogy, entomology, etiology, bacteriology, apologia, bacteriologist, syllogism, 110 more
Today it means
noun A form of rhetoric in which the writer or speaker uses logical argument as the main form of persuasion.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “logos”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek λόγος. 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 *leǵ- / logos