English
ratio
Ratio is borrowed from Latin ratiō ‘reckoning, reason’.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English ratio
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2019, Susan Scutti, Climate change will affect gender ratio among newborns, scie: “Scientists believe that the sex ratio is equal at…”.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEratiōWiktionary, English ratio‘reckoning, reason’
- Englishearliest quotation 2019ratioWiktionary, English ratio. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2019, Susan Scutti, Climate change will affect gender ratio among newborns, scie: “Scientists believe that the sex ratio is equal at…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- ‘to fit, to fix, to put together, to slot’
order, art, ready, army, article, arm, artist, ordinary, alarm, harmony, armor, coordinate, anarchy, coordination, arthritis, harmonic, ornament, subordinate, arithmetic, articulate, inert, armament, artisan, adorn, harmonious, ornate, ordination, aristocratic, armadillo, ordinate, harmonize, ordinal, rta, articulation, ordinator, archon, rime, ordain, ordo, artifice, 77 more
through Latin reor ‘to compute’
reasonable, rate, irritate, ratify, 13 more
through Latin ratiō ‘reason, reasoning, explanation, ground,…’
Today it means
noun A number representing a comparison between two named things.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “ratio”. 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 / Latin ratiō / ratio