Etymograph

English

parental

Parental comes from Latin parens ‘parent’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- ‘to produce, beget’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*perh₃-1‘to produce, beget’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pérh₃-t ~ *pr̥h₃-ént1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*par-(e)nt-1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparens2‘parent’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparentālis2
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600parental2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1916parental2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin parens
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English parental
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1916, William E. Castle, Gregor Mendel: “This, following Bateson, we may call the parental generation…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*perh₃-Wiktionary, Latin parens‘to produce, beget’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pérh₃-t ~ *pr̥h₃-éntWiktionary, Latin parensreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*par-(e)nt-Wiktionary, Latin parensreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparensWiktionary, English parental‘parent’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEparentālisWiktionary, English parental
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600parentalWiktionary, English parental
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1916parentalWiktionary, English parental. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1916, William E. Castle, Gregor Mendel: “This, following Bateson, we may call the parental generation…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- ‘to produce, beget’

part, expert, empire, experiment, imperial, repair, preparation, para, parcel, parity, imperium, imperious, 47 more

Today it means

adj Of or relating to a parent.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “parental”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin parens. 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 *perh₃- / parental

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