Etymograph

English

zygon

Zygon comes from Ancient Greek ζυγόν ‘yoke’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *yewg-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yewg-1‘to yoke, harness, join’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yugóm2‘yoke’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*dzugón2‘yoke’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEζυγόν3zugón‘yoke’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1896zygon3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *yugóm
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek ζυγόν
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English zygon
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1896, Andrew J. Parker: “The evidence is threefold: (1) as admitted by Ecker,…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yewg-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *yugóm‘to yoke, harness, join’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*yugómWiktionary, Ancient Greek ζυγόν‘yoke’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*dzugónWiktionary, Ancient Greek ζυγόν‘yoke’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEζυγόνWiktionary, English zygonzugón‘yoke’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1896zygonWiktionary, English zygon. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1896, Andrew J. Parker: “The evidence is threefold: (1) as admitted by Ecker,…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *yewg- ‘to yoke, harness, join’

join, yoga, conjunction, junction, adjunct, jodi, juncture, jugular, subjugate, yojana, 40 more

through Proto-Indo-European *yugóm ‘yoke’

yogi, yoke, conjugate, conjugation, yuga, 11 more

through Proto-Hellenic *dzugón ‘yoke’

zygote, 5 more

Today it means

noun In the cerebrum, a short crossbar fissure that connects the two pairs of branches of a larger zygal (H-shaped) fissure.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “zygon”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Indo-European *yugóm, Ancient Greek ζυγόν. 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 *yewg- / zygon

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