Etymograph

English

muricidal

Muricidal comes from Latin mūs ‘a mouse’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *múHs.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*múHs1‘mouse’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mūs1‘mouse’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūs2‘a mouse’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1977muricidal2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin mus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English muricidal
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1977, F V DeFeudis, Patricia A F DeFeudis: “[…] and that bulbectomy-induced increases in muricidal behavior of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*múHsWiktionary, Latin mus‘mouse’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mūsWiktionary, Latin mus‘mouse’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmūsWiktionary, English muricidal‘a mouse’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1977muricidalWiktionary, English muricidal. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1977, F V DeFeudis, Patricia A F DeFeudis: “[…] and that bulbectomy-induced increases in muricidal behavior of…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *múHs ‘mouse’

mouse, mice, myelin, myocardium, 15 more

through Latin mūs ‘a mouse’

muscle, mussel, musculature, murine, 9 more

Today it means

adj Pertaining to muricide.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “muricidal”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin mus. 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 *múHs / muricidal

Shirt and support for this word