Etymograph

English

tumour

Tumour comes from Old French tumour ‘tumor’, from Latin tumor ‘swelling’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tewh₂-1‘to swell’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtumeō1‘to be swollen, turgid, distended, puffed out or inflated, to swell’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtumor1‘swelling’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tumour1‘tumor’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tumour1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2025tumour1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English tumour
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, Nino Bucci: “At this time, and at another occasion when she…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tewh₂-Wiktionary, English tumour‘to swell’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtumeōWiktionary, English tumour‘to be swollen, turgid, distended, puffed out or inflated, to swell’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtumorWiktionary, English tumour‘swelling’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400tumourWiktionary, English tumour‘tumor’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tumourWiktionary, English tumour
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2025tumourWiktionary, English tumour. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2025, Nino Bucci: “At this time, and at another occasion when she…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- ‘to swell’

butter, tomb, soma, truffle, trifle, tyrosine, tuff, tumultuous, tuber, madrasa, tumult, turgid, tufa, 43 more

through Middle English tumour

tumor

Today it means

noun Commonwealth standard spelling of tumor.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “tumour”. 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 *tewh₂- / tumour

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