Etymograph

English

polis

Polis comes from Ancient Greek πόλις ‘fortified town’, from Proto-Hellenic *ptólis ‘city’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tpelH-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tpelH-1‘fortification, city’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*ptólis1‘city’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπόλις1pólis‘fortified town’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2006polis1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English polis
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation: “By the end of the century, poleis had been…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tpelH-Wiktionary, English polis‘fortification, city’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*ptólisWiktionary, English polis‘city’reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπόλιςWiktionary, English polispólis‘fortified town’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 2006polisWiktionary, English polis. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2006, Karen Armstrong, The Great Transformation: “By the end of the century, poleis had been…”

Linked words

through Ancient Greek πόλις ‘fortified town’

police, policy, politico, polity, politic, politique, 7 more

Another origin of polis

  1. Scotsc. 1450–presentpolis
  2. Englishtodaypolis

Today it means

noun A Greek city-state.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “polis”. 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 *tpelH- / polis

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