English
nutrition
Nutrition comes from Latin nūtriō ‘to suckle, breastfeed, nurse’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *snew-tr-ih₂.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snew-tr-ih₂1‘female nurser’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*snoutrjō1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnūtriō2‘to suckle, breastfeed, nurse’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnutritio3
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400nutricion3
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600nutrition3
- Englishearliest quotation 1822nutrition3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin nutrio
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin nutritio
- 3 Wiktionary, English nutrition
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1822, John Barclay, Ancient and Modern: “In the dead state all is apparently without motion.…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*snew-tr-ih₂Wiktionary, Latin nutrio‘female nurser’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*snoutrjōWiktionary, Latin nutrioreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnūtriōWiktionary, Latin nutritio‘to suckle, breastfeed, nurse’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnutritioWiktionary, English nutrition
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400nutricionWiktionary, English nutrition
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600nutritionWiktionary, English nutrition
- Englishearliest quotation 1822nutritionWiktionary, English nutrition. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1822, John Barclay, Ancient and Modern: “In the dead state all is apparently without motion.…”
Linked words
through Latin nūtriō ‘to suckle, breastfeed, nurse’
Today it means
noun The organic process by which an organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and maintenance.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “nutrition”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin nutrio, Latin nutritio. 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 *snew-tr-ih₂ / nutrition