English
signal
Signal comes from Old French segnal or Medieval Latin signāle, from Late Latin signālis, from Latin signum ‘sign, mark’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*segnom1reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsignum2‘sign, mark’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsignālis2
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1593signal2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin signum
- 2 Wiktionary, English signal
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “The weary sun […] / Gives signal of a…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*segnomWiktionary, Latin signumreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsignumWiktionary, English signal‘sign, mark’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEsignālisWiktionary, English signal
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1593signalWiktionary, English signal. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]: “The weary sun […] / Gives signal of a…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sek- ‘to cut’
saw, sex, risk, section, ship, sexual, segment, sack, insect, scarlet, sawyer, sax, het, designation, shingle, sickle, dissect, scythe, seg, sedge, sich, desiccation, brassica, desiccant, assignation, 49 more
through Proto-Italic *segnom ‘sign’
design, sealing, resign, assign, consign, 15 more
through Latin signum ‘visible indication: sign, mark, signal’
significant, seal, significance, signify, ensign, insignia, sain, signet, sigil, signification, 9 more
Today it means
noun A sequence of states representing an encoded message in a communication channel.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “signal”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin signum. 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-Italic *segnom / signal