Etymograph

English

supinate

Supinate comes from Latin supīnō ‘turn up, turn over’, from supīnus ‘lying down with face upwards’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)upo ‘up, from below’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)upo1‘up, from below’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupīnus2‘lying down with face upwards’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupīnō3‘turn up, turn over’
  4. Englishtodaysupinate3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin supinus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin supino
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English supinate

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)upoWiktionary, Latin supinus‘up, from below’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupīnusWiktionary, Latin supino‘lying down with face upwards’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsupīnōWiktionary, English supinate‘turn up, turn over’
  4. EnglishtodaysupinateWiktionary, English supinate

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *(s)upo

Today it means

verb To twist the forearm so as to turn the palm of the hand backwards if the forearm is pointing up, upwards if the forearm is horizontal, or forwards if the arm is pointing down; to twist the forearm by contracting the biceps brachii; to twist the right forearm clockwise or the left forearm counterclockwise.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “supinate”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin supinus, Latin supino. 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 *(s)upo / supinate

Shirt and support for this word