English
preta
Preta comes from Sanskrit प्रेत ‘a ghost, an evil being, preta’, from इत ‘gone’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- ‘to go’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁ey-1‘to go’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁itós2‘passable’reconstructed
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEइत3‘gone’
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEप्रेत4preta‘a ghost, an evil being, preta’
- Englishtodaypreta4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *h₁itós
- 2 Wiktionary, Sanskrit इत
- 3 Wiktionary, Sanskrit प्रेत
- 4 Wiktionary, English preta
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁ey-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *h₁itós‘to go’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁itósWiktionary, Sanskrit इत‘passable’reconstructed
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEइतWiktionary, Sanskrit प्रेत‘gone’
- Sanskritc. 1500–500 BCEप्रेतWiktionary, English pretapreta‘a ghost, an evil being, preta’
- EnglishtodaypretaWiktionary, English preta
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- ‘to go’
initial, transition, initiative, ion, ambitious, ambition, initiate, ambient, initiation, eid, itinerary, sedition, isthmus, cation, eyre, initiator, ambiance, ambit, iter, anionic, 23 more
Today it means
noun A hungry ghost (a supernatural being in Buddhist folklore, the spirit of a greedy person whose divine retribution is never to be sated)
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “preta”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *h₁itós, Sanskrit इत, Sanskrit प्रेत. 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 *h₁ey- / preta