Etymograph

English

microfilament

Microfilament 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. Englishtodaymicrofilament1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English microfilament

Lineage

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

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *fī(s)lom

defile, 41 more

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

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

through English filament

filamentous, 22 more

Today it means

noun A thin filament made of the protein actin and found in cells; part of the cytoskeleton.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “microfilament”. 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- / microfilament

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