English
material
Material comes from Middle English material, from Late Latin māteriālis, from Latin māteria ‘wood, material, substance’, from māter ‘mother’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmāter1‘mother’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmāteria1‘wood, material, substance’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmāteriālis1
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500material1‘made of matter’
- Englishearliest quotation 1642material1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English material
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1642, Daniel Rogers …, Naaman the Syrian: “[…] I beleeve that as they ſay of the…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmāterWiktionary, English material‘mother’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmāteriaWiktionary, English material‘wood, material, substance’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmāteriālisWiktionary, English material
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500materialWiktionary, English material‘made of matter’
- Englishearliest quotation 1642materialWiktionary, English material. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1642, Daniel Rogers …, Naaman the Syrian: “[…] I beleeve that as they ſay of the…”
Word family
English words that share an ancestor with material, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.
through Proto-Indo-European *méh₂tēr ‘mother’
through Latin māter ‘mother’
through Latin māteria ‘wood, material, substance’
- matter ← matere ← matere
40 more relatives in the full family tree
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Today it means
adj Of, relating to, or consisting of matter, especially physical.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “material”. 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 / Latin māter / material