Etymograph

English

myofilament

Myofilament 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. Englishtodaymyofilament1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English myofilament

Lineage

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

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 filament within a myofibril, constructed from proteins

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “myofilament”. 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- / myofilament

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