Etymograph

English

victimology

Victimology comes from French victime ‘victim’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to choose, separate out, set aside as holy,…’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-1‘to choose, separate out, set aside as holy, consecrate, sacrifice’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvictima2‘sacrificial victim’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentvictime3‘victim’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentvictimologie4
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2022victimology4

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin victima
  2. 2 Wiktionary, French victime
  3. 3 Wiktionary, French victimologie
  4. 4 Wiktionary, English victimology
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2022, Jason Farago, The World’s Most Prestigious Art Exhibition Is Over. Maybe F: “The whole thing has rotted into a festival of…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-Wiktionary, Latin victima‘to choose, separate out, set aside as holy, consecrate, sacrifice’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvictimaWiktionary, French victime‘sacrificial victim’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentvictimeWiktionary, French victimologie‘victim’
  4. Frenchc. 1600–presentvictimologieWiktionary, English victimology
  5. Englishearliest quotation 2022victimologyWiktionary, English victimology. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2022, Jason Farago, The World’s Most Prestigious Art Exhibition Is Over. Maybe F: “The whole thing has rotted into a festival of…”

Formed from victim + -ology

Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to sift’

Latin victima ‘sacrificial animal’

Middle French victime

English victim

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to choose, separate out, set aside as holy,…’

province, victory, weakness, convince, witch, icon, wicked, wo, victor, conviction, invincible, wight, weakly, convict, vicar, eviction, vanquish, wile, evict, ancona, waw, 33 more

Today it means

noun The study of the victims of crime, and especially of the reasons some people are more prone to be victims.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “victimology”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin victima, French victime, French victimologie. 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 *weyk- / victimology

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