Etymograph

English

projection

Projection may come from Latin prōiectiō ‘a throwing forward, projection’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)yeh₁-1‘to throw’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)yéh₁kt ~ *(H)ih₁ként1uncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEiaciō1‘throw, hurl’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōiciō2‘to throw, thrust, drive, fling or hurl forth, down, away or out’uncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōiectiō2‘a throwing forward, projection’uncertain
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600projection2uncertain
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1666projection2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin proicio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English projection
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1666, Robert Boyle, The Origine of Formes and Qualities […]: “I speak not here of Projection, whereby one part…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)yeh₁-Wiktionary, Latin proicio‘to throw’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(H)yéh₁kt ~ *(H)ih₁kéntWiktionary, Latin proiciouncertain
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEiaciōWiktionary, Latin proicio‘throw, hurl’uncertain
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōiciōWiktionary, English projection‘to throw, thrust, drive, fling or hurl forth, down, away or out’uncertain
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEprōiectiōWiktionary, English projection‘a throwing forward, projection’uncertain
  6. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600projectionWiktionary, English projectionuncertain
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1666projectionWiktionary, English projection. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1666, Robert Boyle, The Origine of Formes and Qualities […]: “I speak not here of Projection, whereby one part…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- ‘to throw’

year, hour, catheter, trajectory, enema, jut, abject, iambic, jetsam, dejection, 38 more

through Proto-Indo-European *(H)yéh₁kt ~ *(H)ih₁ként

objective, objection, ejection, objector, 25 more

through Latin iaciō ‘throw, hurl’

disease, ease, adjacent, jet, object, jess, gist, injection, inject, jetty, conjecture, adjective, ejaculate, ejaculation, eject, joist, jettison, interject, subjection, 31 more

Today it means

noun Something which projects, protrudes, juts out, sticks out, or stands out.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “projection”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin proicio. 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 *(H)yeh₁- / projection

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