Etymograph

English

meniscotomy

Meniscotomy comes from Ancient Greek τέμνω ‘to cut’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *temh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*temh₁-1‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tm̥-né-h₁-ti1reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτέμνω2témnō‘to cut’
  4. Englishtodaymeniscotomy2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τέμνω
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English meniscotomy

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*temh₁-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τέμνω‘to cut’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tm̥-né-h₁-tiWiktionary, Ancient Greek τέμνωreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτέμνωWiktionary, English meniscotomytémnō‘to cut’
  4. EnglishtodaymeniscotomyWiktionary, English meniscotomy

A compound of meniscus + -otomy

Ancient Greek μήνη ‘moon’

Ancient Greek μηνίσκος ‘crescent’

English meniscus

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- ‘to cut’

contempt, templar, tempestuous, 34 more

through Ancient Greek τέμνω ‘to cut’

atom, epitome, tome, toma, dichotomous, 30 more

Today it means

noun incision of the meniscus (typically of the knee)

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “meniscotomy”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek τέμνω. 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 *temh₁- / meniscotomy

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