Etymograph

English

suffraginous

Suffraginous comes from Latin suffraginosus ‘diseased in the hock’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break, crack, split’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-1‘to break, crack, split’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰrāg-1‘rump, hock, hindquarters’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*frāgō1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuffrago2‘the pastern, or hock’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuffraginosus2‘diseased in the hock’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1650suffraginous2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin suffrago
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English suffraginous
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “The different flexure and order of the joints might…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰreg-Wiktionary, Latin suffrago‘to break, crack, split’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰrāg-Wiktionary, Latin suffrago‘rump, hock, hindquarters’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CE*frāgōWiktionary, Latin suffragoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuffragoWiktionary, English suffraginous‘the pastern, or hock’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuffraginosusWiktionary, English suffraginous‘diseased in the hock’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1650suffraginousWiktionary, English suffraginous. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […]: “The different flexure and order of the joints might…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- ‘to break, crack, split’

break, broken, broke, brigade, brake, bracket, fraction, fracture, fragile, refrain, fragment, bray, fret, frail, breech, infringe, fractal, refractory, brogan, brogue, 38 more

Today it means

adj Of or relating to the hock of an animal.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “suffraginous”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin suffrago. 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 *bʰreg- / suffraginous

Shirt and support for this word