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An earlier form of a word in the same language or in an ancestor language. For example, Indo-European *duwo and Old English twā are etymons of Modern English two.
(noun)
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A word or morpheme from which compounds and derivatives are formed.
(noun)
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A foreign word from which a particular loan word is derived. For example, Latin duo, "two,” is an etymon of English duodecimal.
(noun)
American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.