Etymograph

English

nonfilament

Nonfilament 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. Englishtodaynonfilament1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English nonfilament

Lineage

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

A compound of non- + filament

Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos ‘one’

…

Proto-Germanic *nainaz ‘none, nought, zero’

Proto-West Germanic *nain

Old English nān ‘no, not any’

Middle English non ‘no, not any’

English non-

Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo-

Proto-Italic *fī(s)lom

Latin fīlum ‘thread’

Late Latin fīlō ‘to spin, draw out in a long line’

Medieval Latin fīlāmentum

English filament

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 That which is not a filament.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “nonfilament”. 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- / nonfilament

Shirt and support for this word