Etymograph

English

panicum

Panicum comes from New Latin panicum ‘panicgrass’, from Latin pānis ‘bread’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- ‘to twist’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)penh₁-1‘to twist’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpānis1‘bread’uncertain
  3. New Latinc. 1500–1900panicum2‘panicgrass’
  4. mulmodernPanicum2
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2008panicum2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin panicum
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English panicum
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Steve Bailey, A Weekend Home That’s Straight Out of a Dream: “And his property might remind someone of the dunes…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)penh₁-Wiktionary, Latin panicum‘to twist’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpānisWiktionary, Latin panicum‘bread’uncertain
  3. New Latinc. 1500–1900panicumWiktionary, English panicum‘panicgrass’
  4. mulmodernPanicumWiktionary, English panicum
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2008panicumWiktionary, English panicum. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2008, Steve Bailey, A Weekend Home That’s Straight Out of a Dream: “And his property might remind someone of the dunes…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- ‘to twist’

spin, 11 more

through Latin pānis ‘bread’

company, pain, companion, accompaniment, pannier, 11 more

through New Latin panicum ‘panicgrass’

bannock, 2 more

Today it means

noun Any of the genus Panicum of tropical grasses.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “panicum”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin panicum. 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 *(s)penh₁- / panicum

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