Etymograph

English

monster

Monster comes from Old French monstre, from Latin mōnstrum ‘omen, portent’, from moneō ‘to warn’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to think’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-1‘to think’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*monéyeti1‘to cause to think’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*moneō1‘to remind’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*monestrom1reconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmōnstrum1‘omen, portent; monster’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400monstre1
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500monstre1‘a monster or beast’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611monster1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English monster
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear,/…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*men-Wiktionary, English monster‘to think’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*monéyetiWiktionary, English monster‘to cause to think’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*moneōWiktionary, English monster‘to remind’reconstructed
  4. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*monestromWiktionary, English monsterreconstructed
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmōnstrumWiktionary, English monster‘omen, portent; monster’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400monstreWiktionary, English monster
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500monstreWiktionary, English monster‘a monster or beast’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1610–1611monsterWiktionary, English monster. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest: “O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear,/…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with monster, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *men- ‘to think, mind’

  • music ← musik ← musik ← mūsica ← μουσική
  • mind ← minde ← mynd ← *mundi ← *mundiz
  • money ← moneye ← muneie ← monoie ← moneie
  • amount ← amounten ← amonter ← amont ← mont
  • comment ← coment ← coment ← commentum
  • mental ← mentālis ← mēns ← *mentis ← *méntis
  • remain ← remainen ← remaneō ← maneō ← *m(V)nēō
  • museum ← Μουσεῖον ← Μοῦσᾰ
  • mouth ← mūþ ← *munþ ← *munþaz ← *mn̥-tó-s
  • mountain ← mountayne ← muntaine ← montānia ← montem
  • mention ← mencioun ← mentiōnem ← mentiō ← meminī
  • auto ← automatic ← automaticus ← automatum ← αὐτόμᾰτον

206 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A terrifying and dangerous creature, especially one of an imaginary or fictional kind.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “monster”. 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 *men- / monster