English
meatus
Meatus comes from Latin meātus#Etymology_2 ‘a going, passing’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mey-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-1root named by Wiktionary
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmeātus#Etymology_21‘a going, passing’
- Englishearliest quotation 1996meatus1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English meatus
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […]: “The illness. It came out of nowhere. His breathing…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-Wiktionary, English meatusroot named by Wiktionary
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmeātus#Etymology_2Wiktionary, English meatus‘a going, passing’
- Englishearliest quotation 1996meatusWiktionary, English meatus. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […]: “The illness. It came out of nowhere. His breathing…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mey-
community, common, minister, minute, mean, commission, met, ministry, minor, communication, min, commit, communist, mess, compromise, immune, missile, communicate, mutual, menu, ammunition, immunity, meal, dismiss, mere, premise, communism, minus, municipality, communal, mole, communion, mural, ammo, mayhem, noodle, intermittent, moor, commune, remuneration, 77 more
Today it means
noun A tubular opening or passage leading to the interior of the body.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “meatus”. 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 *mey- / meatus