Etymograph

English

vinculum

Vinculum comes from Latin vinculum ‘bond, link’, from vinciō ‘bind, fetter, tie’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to curve, bend’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-1‘to curve, bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wi-n-k-1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvinciō2‘bind, fetter, tie’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvinculum2‘bond, link’
  5. Englishtodayvinculum2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin vincio
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English vinculum

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-Wiktionary, Latin vincio‘to curve, bend’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*wi-n-k-Wiktionary, Latin vincioreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvinciōWiktionary, English vinculum‘bind, fetter, tie’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvinculumWiktionary, English vinculum‘bond, link’
  5. EnglishtodayvinculumWiktionary, English vinculum

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to curve, bend’

victory, victim, weakness, icon, witch, wicked, conviction, victor, convince, wo, convict, eviction, wight, weakly, vicar, invincible, evict, vanquish, wile, waw, ancona, 32 more

through Latin vinciō ‘bind, fetter, tie’

province, 1 more

Today it means

noun A bond or tie that unifies.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vinculum”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin vincio. 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- / vinculum

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