Etymograph

English

velar

Velar comes from Latin vēlāris ‘of or relating to cloths, veils, or curtains’, from vēlum ‘sail’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-1‘to bring’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wekslom1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēlum1‘sail’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēlāris1‘of or relating to cloths, veils, or curtains’
  5. Englishtodayvelar1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English velar

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weǵʰ-Wiktionary, English velar‘to bring’uncertain
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*wekslomWiktionary, English velarreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēlumWiktionary, English velar‘sail’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvēlārisWiktionary, English velar‘of or relating to cloths, veils, or curtains’
  5. EnglishtodayvelarWiktionary, English velar

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- ‘to bring’

way, always, via, vehicle, wave, halfway, weigh, wagon, wee, vector, vogue, wedge, vein, headway, wag, wonky, eunuch, venous, vex, wey, waw, wain, invective, vena, 40 more

through Latin vēlum ‘sail’

reveal, veil, 10 more

Today it means

adj Articulated at the velum or soft palate.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “velar”. 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 *weǵʰ- / velar

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