Etymograph

English

pedometer

Pedometer comes from French pédomètre, from Latin pēs ‘foot’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ped- ‘to walk, to step’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ped-1‘to walk, to step’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pṓds2‘foot’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pets2‘foot’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpēs3‘foot’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentpédomètre3
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2019pedometer3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *pṓds
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin pes
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English pedometer
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2019, Jack Schofield, What’s the best cheap tablet or e-reader for PDF files?: “A smartphone is not the best camera, notebook, word…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ped-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *pṓds‘to walk, to step’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pṓdsWiktionary, Latin pes‘foot’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*petsWiktionary, Latin pes‘foot’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpēsWiktionary, English pedometer‘foot’
  5. Frenchc. 1600–presentpédomètreWiktionary, English pedometer
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2019pedometerWiktionary, English pedometer. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2019, Jack Schofield, What’s the best cheap tablet or e-reader for PDF files?: “A smartphone is not the best camera, notebook, word…”

The story

In French now the word is podomètre, and similar in other Romance languages and in Greek (ποδόμετρο (podómetro)).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ped- ‘to walk, to step’

pilot, expedition, footing, fetch, impeachment, footed, expedite, fet, ped, pada, fetter, 48 more

through Proto-Indo-European *pṓds ‘foot’

foot, feet, podium, pew, pug, baht, puy, poy, tripos, 37 more

through Proto-Italic *pets ‘foot’

pie, pawn, quadruped, 13 more

through Latin pēs ‘foot’

pioneer, pedestrian, pedal, pedigree, impede, pes, impediment, centipede, pedicure, petiole, peon, expeditious, pedicel, pedicle, biped, 12 more

Today it means

noun A device, often electronic, that measures the number of steps taken, and thus estimates the distance walked.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pedometer”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *pṓds, Latin pes. 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 *ped- / pedometer

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