Etymograph

English

multifilament

Multifilament 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. Englishtodaymultifilament1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English multifilament

Lineage

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

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

adj Having multiple filaments

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “multifilament”. 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- / multifilament

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