English
nepionic
Nepionic comes from Ancient Greek νήπιος ‘infant’, from ἔπος ‘speech’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- ‘to speak’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wekʷ-1‘to speak’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wékʷos1reconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*wékʷos1‘word, speech’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἔπος2‘speech’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEνήπιος3nḗpios‘infant’
- Englishearliest quotation 1954nepionic3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ἔπος
- 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek νήπιος, which cites Beekes
- 3 Wiktionary, English nepionic
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1954, Alan Hilder Smout, Lower Tertiary Foraminifera of the Qatar Peninsula: “A microspheric nucleoconch does not have an obvious deuteroconch,…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wekʷ-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ἔπος‘to speak’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wékʷosWiktionary, Ancient Greek ἔποςreconstructed
- Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*wékʷosWiktionary, Ancient Greek ἔπος‘word, speech’reconstructed
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEἔποςWiktionary, Ancient Greek νήπιος, which cites Beekes‘speech’
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEνήπιοςWiktionary, English nepionicnḗpios‘infant’
- Englishearliest quotation 1954nepionicWiktionary, English nepionic. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1954, Alan Hilder Smout, Lower Tertiary Foraminifera of the Qatar Peninsula: “A microspheric nucleoconch does not have an obvious deuteroconch,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ- ‘to speak’
voice, invite, vocal, invitation, vie, invoke, vox, wight, whit, vouch, invocation, vociferous, 33 more
through Ancient Greek ἔπος ‘speech’
Today it means
adj immature
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “nepionic”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek ἔπος, Ancient Greek νήπιος. 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 *wekʷ- / nepionic