Etymograph

English

tele-

Tele- comes from Ancient Greek τῆλε ‘at a distance, far off, far away, far from’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- ‘to turn, revolve’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷel-1‘to turn, revolve’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτῆλε2têle‘at a distance, far off, far away, far from’
  3. Englishtodaytele-2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τῆλε
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English tele-

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷel-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τῆλε‘to turn, revolve’reconstructed
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτῆλεWiktionary, English tele-têle‘at a distance, far off, far away, far from’
  3. Englishtodaytele-Wiktionary, English tele-

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- ‘to turn, revolve’

cycle, polar, pole, columnist, loaf, bazaar, accolade, pulley, bucolic, 8 more

Today it means

prefix over a distance

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tele-”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek τῆλε. 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 *kʷel- / tele-

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