Etymograph

English

melanofilament

Melanofilament comes from Latin fīlum ‘thread, string, filament, fiber’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-1reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fī(s)lom1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīlum1‘thread, string, filament, fiber’
  4. Late Latinmodernfīlō1
  5. Medieval Latinmodernfīlāmentum1
  6. English1500–presentfilament1
  7. Englishtodaymelanofilament1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English melanofilament

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-Wiktionary, English melanofilamentreconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fī(s)lomWiktionary, English melanofilamentreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfīlumWiktionary, English melanofilament‘thread, string, filament, fiber’
  4. Late LatinmodernfīlōWiktionary, English melanofilament
  5. Medieval LatinmodernfīlāmentumWiktionary, English melanofilament
  6. English1500–presentfilamentWiktionary, English melanofilament
  7. EnglishtodaymelanofilamentWiktionary, English melanofilament

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *fī(s)lom

defile, 41 more

through Latin fīlum ‘thread, string, filament, fiber’

file, annihilation, fillet, nihilism, annihilate, nihilist, nihil, 43 more

through English filament

filamentous, 22 more

Today it means

noun A coil of melanin that develops into a melanotubule and finally a melanosome

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “melanofilament”. 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 *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo- / melanofilament

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