Etymograph

English

pasteurize

Pasteurize comes from French pasteuriser ‘to pasteurise’, from Latin pastor ‘a person who tends sheep’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to protect, to ward’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂-1‘to protect, to ward’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*péh₂sti1‘to guard, to protect’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pāskō1‘to feed’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpāscō1‘to feed, maintain, pasture, graze’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpastor2as pastōrem‘a person who tends sheep’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentPasteur3
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentpasteuriser4‘to pasteurise’
  8. Englishtodaypasteurize4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin pastor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French Pasteur
  3. 3 Wiktionary, French pasteuriser
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English pasteurize

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*peh₂-Wiktionary, Latin pastor‘to protect, to ward’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*péh₂stiWiktionary, Latin pastor‘to guard, to protect’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pāskōWiktionary, Latin pastor‘to feed’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpāscōWiktionary, Latin pastor‘to feed, maintain, pasture, graze’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpastorWiktionary, French Pasteuras pastōrem‘a person who tends sheep’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentPasteurWiktionary, French pasteuriser
  7. Frenchc. 1600–presentpasteuriserWiktionary, English pasteurize‘to pasteurise’
  8. EnglishtodaypasteurizeWiktionary, English pasteurize

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- ‘to protect, to ward’

company, food, father, pain, feed, pope, pattern, apparent, companion, foster, fur, penetration, papa, patron, patriot, fodder, perpetrator, fad, forage, accompaniment, ayr, paternal, paternity, padre, panini, patrician, perpetrate, pav, patrimony, pater, compere, pantaloons, pannier, 57 more

through Proto-Indo-European *péh₂sti ‘to guard, to protect’

pasture, 8 more

through Latin pāscō ‘to feed, maintain, pasture, graze’

pastoral, 12 more

through Latin pastor ‘a person who tends sheep’

pastor, 3 more

Today it means

verb To heat food for the purpose of killing harmful organisms such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, molds, and yeasts.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pasteurize”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin pastor, French Pasteur, French pasteuriser. 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 *peh₂- / pasteurize

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