Etymograph

English

pellicule

Pellicule comes from Latin pellicula ‘small skin or hide’, from Proto-Indo-European *pel-ni-s ‘to cover, wrap’, and ultimately from *pel-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-1‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-ni-s1‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnis1‘skin’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellis2‘a skin’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellicula2‘small skin or hide’
  6. Englishtodaypellicule2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin pellis
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English pellicule

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-Wiktionary, Latin pellis‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pel-ni-sWiktionary, Latin pellis‘to cover, wrap’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*pelnisWiktionary, Latin pellis‘skin’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpellisWiktionary, English pellicule‘a skin’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpelliculaWiktionary, English pellicule‘small skin or hide’
  6. EnglishtodaypelliculeWiktionary, English pellicule

Formed from pellis ‘a skin’ + -cula

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pel- ‘to cover, wrap’

film, simply, felt, simple, push, filter, powder, complain, fold, pulse, pillow, repeal, flaw, palate, compulsive, pollen, palladium, palpable, palatable, expel, repel, propel, pall, wallow, pelt, peloton, palatal, polemic, tuple, palp, pollinate, muffle, apoplexy, peplum, pulver, interpolate, 62 more

through Latin pellis ‘a skin’

pillion, 6 more

Today it means

noun A thin diaphanous fabric.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “pellicule”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin pellis. 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 *pel- / pellicule

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