Etymograph

English

meiosis

Meiosis comes from Ancient Greek μείωσις ‘a lessening’, from μείων ‘less’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘small, little’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-1‘small, little’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμείων2meíōn‘less’
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμειόω2meióō‘I lessen’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμείωσις2meíōsis‘a lessening’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1965meiosis2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μείων
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English meiosis
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1965, John Fowles: “I knew, with one of those secret knowledges that…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μείων‘small, little’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμείωνWiktionary, English meiosismeíōn‘less’
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμειόωWiktionary, English meiosismeióō‘I lessen’
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμείωσιςWiktionary, English meiosismeíōsis‘a lessening’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1965meiosisWiktionary, English meiosis. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1965, John Fowles: “I knew, with one of those secret knowledges that…”

The story

The biological sense was coined by British biologists John Bretland Farmer and John Edmund Sharrock Moore in 1905 as maiosis in a paper in the Quarterly Journal of Microscopic Science, with the spelling corrected on etymological grounds later that year.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mey- ‘small, little’

community, mean, common, minute, minister, met, minor, communication, ministry, commission, min, commit, mess, mutual, meal, communicate, communist, immune, minus, menu, compromise, immunity, mere, ammunition, missile, municipality, communal, mole, dismiss, communism, premise, mural, ammo, mayhem, communion, noodle, intermittent, moor, commune, remuneration, 77 more

Today it means

noun A figure of speech in which something is presented as smaller or less significant than it actually appears.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “meiosis”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek μείων. 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- / meiosis

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