Etymograph

English

plenal

Plenal comes from Latin plenus ‘full’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- ‘to fill’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₁-1‘to fill’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pl̥h₁nós2‘full’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*plēnos2‘full’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplenus3‘full’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1902plenal3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin plenus
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English plenal
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1902, Alfred H. Lloyd, A Study in the Logic of the Early Greek Philosophy: “The greatest thing, necessarily including all other things, however…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pleh₁-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós‘to fill’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pl̥h₁nósWiktionary, Latin plenus‘full’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*plēnosWiktionary, Latin plenus‘full’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEplenusWiktionary, English plenal‘full’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1902plenalWiktionary, English plenal. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1902, Alfred H. Lloyd, A Study in the Logic of the Early Greek Philosophy: “The greatest thing, necessarily including all other things, however…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- ‘to fill’

people, public, popular, complete, plus, supply, poll, folk, accomplish, completion, manipulation, comply, implement, supplement, complement, plural, plethora, puri, depletion, volk, replete, deplete, plebs, plebeian, 75 more

through Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós ‘full’

full, fill, fulsome, 21 more

through Latin plenus ‘full’

plain, plenty, ample, amplitude, amplify, replenish, plenum, 15 more

Today it means

adj full; complete

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “plenal”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₁nós, Latin plenus. 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 *pleh₁- / plenal

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