n., pl., -mons, or -ma (-mə).
- 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.
- A word or morpheme from which compounds and derivatives are formed.
- A foreign word from which a particular loan word is derived. For example, Latin duo, "two," is an etymon of English duodecimal.
[Latin, from Greek etumon, true sense of a word, from neuter of etumos, true.]
