English

schismatic

Schismatic comes from Ancient Greek σχίσμα ‘cleft, division’, from σχῐ́ζω ‘to split’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *skeyd-.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

¹ Wiktionary, Ancient Greek σχίσμα
² Wiktionary, Ancient Greek σχίζω
³ Wiktionary, English schismatic
Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood: “He semeth a sysmatyke Or els an heretike, For…”.

Lineage

Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skeyd-1Wiktionary, Ancient Greek σχίσμα‘to split, to divide’reconstructed
Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*skid-yé-ti2Wiktionary, Ancient Greek σχίζωreconstructed
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσχῐ́ζω1Wiktionary, Ancient Greek σχίσμαskhĭ́zō‘to split’
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσχίσμα3Wiktionary, English schismaticskhísma‘cleft, division’
Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσχισματικός3Wiktionary, English schismaticskhismatikós
Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEschismaticus3Wiktionary, English schismatic
Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600scismatique3Wiktionary, English schismatic
Middle Englishc. 1150–1500scismatik3Wiktionary, English schismatic
Englishearliest quotation c. 1503–1512schismatic3Wiktionary, English schismatic. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood: “He semeth a sysmatyke Or els an heretike, For…”

The music sense is based on schisma, from the same ultimate Greek source; compare schism.

adj Of or pertaining to a schism.

Sources: Wiktionary, “schismatic”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Ancient Greek σχίσμα, Ancient Greek σχίζω. 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.