Etymograph

English

ocellation

Ocellation comes from Latin ocellus ‘little eye’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ekʷ-1‘to see’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*okʷ(e)los1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoculus2‘eye’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEocellus2‘little eye’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1993ocellation2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin oculus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English ocellation
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1993, Roger L. H. Dennis, Butterflies and Climate Change: “In Pararge aegeria, increased dorsal hindwing ocellation (i.e., four…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₃ekʷ-Wiktionary, Latin oculus‘to see’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*okʷ(e)losWiktionary, Latin oculusreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEoculusWiktionary, English ocellation‘eye’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEocellusWiktionary, English ocellation‘little eye’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1993ocellationWiktionary, English ocellation. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1993, Roger L. H. Dennis, Butterflies and Climate Change: “In Pararge aegeria, increased dorsal hindwing ocellation (i.e., four…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₃ekʷ- ‘to see’

eye, anthropology, optics, ogle, awk, synoptic, anthropoid, 37 more

through Latin oculus ‘eye’

oculus, ocular, monocle, doily, inoculation, inoculate, 15 more

Today it means

noun The development of eye-like markings, such as those on the wing of a butterfly or tail of a peacock.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “ocellation”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin oculus. 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 *h₃ekʷ- / ocellation

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